The Year of Good Things
by wordscreatereality
Summary: Oliver and Felicity are finally together and are determined to live life to the fullest and have promised to make the next twelve months good for each other. The criminals of Starling City and the Bratva have other ideas. This is the final installment of The Ties That Bind trilogy.
1. October

**Notes: Happy 2015! I hope this year brings all of you health, happiness and prosperity.**

**Here is the final installment of The Ties That Bind Trilogy. If you haven't already read The Ties That Bind and Lines In The Sand, I recommend you do so. I apologize this took me so long to publish. So far, season 3 has made it tough for me to keep this story on a happy track and Oliver promised Felicity a Year of Good Things and I'm determined to provide it. I hope you enjoy.**

**The Arrow characters and universe do not belong to me.**

Oliver's breathing was getting faster and more erratic in her ear. The sounds of his exertion were distracting her from the task at hand and if she didn't focus on herself she'd never finish. Felicity did something she never did, she turned off her comm so she couldn't hear him as he fought. Her fingers moved frantically across the keyboard as she hacked into yet another member of the Starling City's elite's computer looking for evidence of corruption. The city's hard times had proven to be too tempting for those that knew how to make a fast buck on the backs of the less fortunate.

"Come on, Blondie." Arsenal said as he entered the office. "Our window's closing if we want to get out of here. This is your plan, remember?"

Felicity didn't look up from the monitor. "Relax. I need one more minute to complete the file transfer."

"Easy for you to say. You're not the one the boss is going to torture if anything happens to you." Roy stuck his head back out the office door. "We've gotta go, now." Addressing his partners, "We've got the package and we're heading to the rendezvous."

Felicity closed her connection to her servers at the lair and started the virus that would remove any evidence of her presence on the suspect's system. She put her hand on Roy's shoulder and followed him down the hallway. "Please, Oliver would never torture you." Roy snickered. "Okay, I'm sure he'd make you stand on one foot while balancing an arrow on your nose or whatever other ridiculous training the two of you get up to when I'm not around."

"Exactly my point. He is a taskmaster when he isn't pissed with me. Imagine what he'll do if he is." Roy put his hand out to stop her forward movement while he took a peek around the corner. "You better put your comm back on. He's freaking out that you're not responding."

Felicity flipped her comm back on, but before she could say a word, Oliver's voice was filling her ear, "What's going on? Why isn't she talking? What aren't you telling me?"

"I'm fine." She said interrupting his tirade.

"What happened? Was your comm damaged?" Oliver asked. Felicity could tell that he was running.

"I was getting distracted so I shut it off." She said, regretting the truth as soon as it left her mouth. She should've gone with malfunctioning comm. Roy turned and gave her a look that clearly said, _Come on, I thought you were supposed to be a genius._

She could hear his jaw clenching. "You turned it off? What's the first rule for you being out in the field?"

"Don't ever tell the bad guy he's an idiot." She said as she followed Roy down a flight of stairs.

"Felicity." Oliver snapped.

"Dude, I'm pretty sure you said that was the number one rule after the last time." Roy winked at Felicity. Oliver had actually made that the number one rule three weeks ago when Felicity had been pinned down by gunfire as she tried to disable a firewall from inside the company they were targeting. She wasn't actually stupid enough to really call a person with a gun an idiot, it was all part of her plan. He was so busy trying to shoot the woman questioning his intelligence that he hadn't noticed the Arrow sneaking up behind him. Even after her reasonable explanation, Oliver still made it a rule.

"Roy." Oliver growled.

Felicity couldn't help but laugh when Diggle piled on. "I remember that too."

For the past six weeks that Felicity and Oliver had been dating, she and the rest of Team Arrow had decided the best way to handle his over-protectiveness was to tease him whenever he exhibited the behavior when it wasn't warranted. Often what drives us most crazy about a person is also why we love them the most. Feeling guilty that they were causing him distress, she decided to stop their teasing. "I'm sorry. Rule number one, never turn off my comm. I won't do it again."

"Hmph." He grunted in acknowledgment. "I'll see you in a few."

Felicity listened to the sound of him running, knowing every step was bringing him closer to her. She and Roy burst through the exit into the cool evening. A mist hung in the air and the night was cloaked in fog. The sound of approaching footsteps echoed around them. Roy pulled her down into a crouch as he scanned their surroundings. He made some hand gestures at her that made her roll her eyes. He sighed. "Right, I'll stay here," she whispered as she tucked herself behind a planter. Roy took off in the direction of the footsteps.

"I'm here," said Diggle. The sound of their van approaching had Felicity rising from her hiding place. As the headlights pierced the fog, Felicity turned to run and collided with a stranger. The man was tall and had a tight grip around her arms. In the darkness she could see that he was wearing a suit and tie and a dark blue trench coat that provided him protection from the light rain. He wore a fedora, but it was his face, or lack of a face that had Felicity swallowing a scream. An arrow whistled by her ear and embedded in the wall behind the man. His grip loosened and Felicity was stirred into motion by the sound of Diggle in her ear. "Go, go, go, go, go."

Felicity ran towards the van that was slowing down to match her speed. Two sets of hands reached out from the open side door and she was hauled inside as the van picked up speed. Oliver's arms crushed her into an embrace as Roy closed the door behind them. "Hey, are you okay? Did he hurt you?" Oliver asked with concern. His lips pressing against her forehead. "You're shaking." Oliver lowered her onto the bench.

"I'm fine. Just surprised to see him." Felicity said trying to give him a reassuring smile. "I was starting to think you guys were making up that we had another vigilante in town."

"I guess we're not the only ones chasing Barnaby Tuddle." Roy said as he lowered his hood.

"I'm getting sick of this guy turning up wherever we go." Oliver said. "Are you sure he hasn't hacked into our comm lines?"

Felicity turned her focus back to Oliver. "I'll check again but he shouldn't be able to. Only our receivers should be able to decrypt our signals - no one else should be able to hear us."

"Felicity, you've gotten closer to him than any of us. Would you recognize him if you saw him again?" Diggle asked as he calmly navigated the van through the city.

Felicity gulped audibly. "I'd know him if I saw him again, but I don't think I can say that I'd recognize him."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Oliver asked.

Felicity tightened her grip on her partner's hand. "Oliver, he didn't have a face."

xxx

They'd been back at the lair for ten minutes. Diggle had already gone home and Oliver and Roy were putting away their equipment. As soon as they arrived, Felicity had started running algorithms on the data she'd taken from Tuddle. There was nothing to do, but wait and she hated waiting. As she stared at the bar indicating the progress of her search, her mind began to wander. A lot had happened in the six weeks since Felicity and Oliver had confessed their feelings for one another, but a lot hadn't happened too. The closest the two had gotten to having sex was when Diggle interrupted with the news that Lyla had gone into labor. First it was the arrival of baby Sara who had kept Lyla in labor for twenty two hours. Oliver and Felicity didn't leave the hospital until they were able to see the baby and hug the new daddy. After, they returned to her place to sleep, but their heads had no sooner hit the pillows before an alert went off on her phone. Her searches had finally tracked Thea to Corto Maltese. Oliver, Diggle and Roy, with the assistance of A.R.G.U.S., immediately set off to bring her home. The shock of discovering that Thea had been with a not quite as dead as they thought Malcolm Merlyn had sent the team reeling. In order to convince Thea to come home, he'd been forced to reveal the truth about their father's death. Thea had returned, reluctantly, and Oliver was spending a lot of time with her, trying to undo whatever damage Merlyn had undoubtedly done. Felicity didn't begrudge Oliver spending time with Thea, but it had put a crimp in taking their relationship to the next level. Something that was becoming increasingly frustrating every time she watched a shirtless Oliver climb the salmon ladder.

To make things more complicated, the board had voted Oliver back in as the CEO. He was taking his responsibilities seriously and was working hard to restore both the reputation of the company and himself. He was pushing himself with long hours at the office and then out on the streets pursuing those that failed the city. Even after finishing his patrols, Oliver put in more hours as CEO. He was lucky to get four hours of sleep a night. Things weren't much better for Felicity. She'd returned to QC, but not as Oliver's Executive Assistant. Oliver made her Vice President of the Applied Science Technology Development group. Rumors continued to hound her that she only got her job because she was dating the boss. She no longer cared what the world thought. She knew what her true role was within QC and so did Oliver. In the end, that's all that mattered. Unfortunately for her sleep cycle, she was also spending three nights a week and her weekends at the university in order to finish up her project for Dr. Emil Hamilton before she arrived at the lair to direct their missions. Felicity no longer felt that she and sleep were on a first name basis.

The appearance of the new vigilante was also adding to the stress. So far, the new guy seemed like he was on their side, but without knowing his true motivation, they were all on edge. Something was going to have to give and Felicity worried that it would take a serious injury for Oliver to slow down. If he continued with his sleep deprivation she knew that it wasn't a matter of if he got hurt it was just a matter of when.

A gentle squeeze of her shoulder brought her back to the present. "Come on, let's get you to bed." Oliver said softly.

Felicity grinned at his unintended innuendo. "Promises, promises." She double checked that her system was running all of her queries before she grabbed her purse.

Oliver placed a gentle kiss on her lips as he pulled her in for a quick hug. "There's nothing I'd like more, except for the fact that I still need to prep for my meeting tomorrow morning with Walter and Grimes to go over the quarterly numbers to prep for the earnings call."

"Luckily for you, you have a girlfriend who annotated the heck out of the financials for you. You just need to read my notes tonight and I can quiz you on our way into the office tomorrow. I'll have you in bed in less than an hour." She said squeezing his hand as they climbed the stairs.

"Now who's making promises?" Oliver teased. "If I can get four hours of sleep tonight I might actually stay awake for the meeting."

"Oliver, why don't you take tomorrow night off?" Felicity said casually.

"Why? Do you have something planned?" He asked with a wink as he opened the passenger side door for her.

She waited for him to get in and start the car before she responded, "No, but I think you could use a solid eight hours of sleep."

"I need to take care of Tuddle tomorrow night." Oliver said through a yawn. "Why don't we plan on taking Friday night off together. I'll take you on a date- date and then I'll really get you into bed."

Felicity ignored his very tempting offer. "You're exhausted. Tomorrow night I'll probably still be amassing evidence and working with Laurel to identify what she needs to put him away. Roy and Diggle can take care of the patrol."

"Everyone's tired, Felicity. It isn't fair for me to take a night off when no one else is."

"Yes, everyone is tired, but you're more than tired. Do you want to know why I turned my comm off?" She took his silence as a, no, but continued anyway. "You sounded sluggish as you were fighting the guard. I was afraid you were going to get hurt and I couldn't listen."

"Okay," he said.

"Okay?" Skepticism flooded her voice. "You'll take tomorrow night off?"

"Yes, " he replied. "You're right, it took me way too long to take out the guard. Being tired makes you sloppy and being sloppy gets you killed. I'll take the night off." He waited for her to respond, but she sat in silence. "Felicity?"

"I don't know what to say. Whenever you're reasonable, I'm stunned into silence." She said trying to hide the grin threatening to break across her face.

"I promised you a year of good things and I haven't done a very good job this month. I figure getting injured or killed will be a surefire way to break that promise."

Since the night they learned baby Sara was about to arrive, Oliver had been true to his word. Even with all the crazy things happening around them, he still took the time every day to make sure that they were focusing on the positive. "We got Thea back. That's a very good thing and more than enough for this month." She said, placing her hand on his leg.

He grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips. He placed a kiss on her knuckles and said, "I love you."

True to his word, Oliver took the next night off from work. He was sitting on Felicity's bed in only his sleep pants, reading the latest projections for the completion of the new Robert and Moira Queen Applied Sciences building. Felicity leaned against her door frame, watching him read. His brow was furrowed in concentration and she knew he was displeased with what he was reading. She'd been displeased when she'd read it earlier that morning. The building was over budget, behind schedule and had run into some issues with structural integrity. Some of the building materials that had been purchased had turned out to be counterfeit and had to be replaced. "You're unhappy face is really making me regret suggesting blowing up the original building."

Oliver grinned and patted the spot next to him on the bed. "I'm not happy we're behind schedule, but we lucked out we found out the steel beams were not up to code when we did. If the building had been finished without discovering the problem first, a lot of people could've died, including you."

Oliver cupped her cheek and she kissed his palm. "Hey, I'm fine. We found out and now we're fixing it."

"That's not what has me worried." He leaned against her headboard and stared at the ceiling. "We can't be the only ones this crap was sold to. With all the rebuilding efforts going on in the city right now, how many of the new constructions are actually death traps?"

Felicity removed the paperwork from his lap and put it on the nightstand. As she turned off the light she said,"It's nine o'clock, you promised me you'd get eight hours of sleep. You're not allowed to worry until tomorrow."

Oliver turned his head towards her and grinned. "I'm not tired." She bit her bottom lip and swung a leg across his thighs to straddle him. She ran her fingers through his hair and began to place gentle kisses across his face. He sighed, "Mmmm, that feels good."

She tried to tamp down her disappointment as she realized her ministrations were having the opposite effect of her intent. She could feel him relaxing beneath her fingers and knew he was about to fall asleep. She kissed his jaw and made a move to return to her side of the bed when Oliver's hands banded around her waist and pulled her against him as he laid them both down. He nuzzled her neck before settling his head just above her heart. "I love you," she whispered as she made lazy circles across his back.

"I love you. Felicity?" He asked groggily. "Will you go on a date-date with me tomorrow?"

She tried not to think of all the work she had to do on their Tuddle investigation. She knew Oliver was impatient to take him down. She also knew that he'd want her to look into the supplier who sold their contractor the faulty steel beams. Life with Oliver was always going to be a never ending balancing act and they both needed to learn to make time for each other. The criminals would always be there, so they might as well take some occasional time for themselves. If he was going to make an effort, so was she. "Yes."

"And Felicity," he said placing a kiss to her breastbone.

"Yes, Oliver."

"You better get eight hours of sleep tonight too because I don't plan on letting you get any sleep tomorrow night." Felicity gulped and knew he could feel it from his position on her chest. "And Felicity," he said seductively.

"Yes, Oliver." Her voice sounded breathier than she intended.

"That, is a promise."

**Notes: Thank you for reading. Your feedback is both welcomed and appreciated.**

**Up Next: Felicity runs into Vic and he needs a favor.**


	2. November

**Notes: Thank you for all the reviews, favorites and follows for the first chapter of this story. It is gratifying to know that so many of you enjoy this version of Oliver and Felicity as much as I do. I would also like to thank all of my new readers who've discovered The Ties That Bind and Lines In The Sand and have sent me such lovely comments.**

**I apologize for the delay in posting Chapter 2. I have to confess that this story has gotten away from me a bit. I thought I'd make each chapter a month in the life of their year of good things. The chapters have become monsters. I hope the length of the chapters aren't a deterrent for you. I've been editing this chapter for more than a week and I've decided to just release it into the universe and let all of you decide if you think I should do shorter chapters and abandon the idea of each chapter being a month in their lives.**

**The Arrow characters and universe do not belong to me.**

Felicity ducked into a coffee shop to get out of the driving rain. Oliver had gone to lunch with Thea and Walter so Felicity had decided to use her Oliver free time to run some errands to prepare for Thanksgiving. She'd volunteered to host a dinner since she had a lot to be grateful for this year, they all did. She was looking forward to spending the day away from work, both QC and Team Arrow. Everyone was coming, Diggle, Lyla, baby Sara, Roy, Thea, Laurel, Laurel's new boyfriend, Ted, Captain Lance and Walter. Felicity had even gotten Sara to promise to try to make it back for the holiday. Felicity wasn't sure how'd they explain Nyssa to Walter, but Sara promised that Nyssa would dial back on the whole 'Heir to the Demon' stuff around civilians. Felicity wanted to make the holiday extra special for Oliver and Thea since it was their first one without their mom. She couldn't remember the last time she'd looked so forward to a holiday. They were going to watch football, eat too much and then have a movie marathon. Oliver had promised four solid days off and she planned on spending three of them naked in bed with him.

She texted Oliver to ask him to pick her up at the coffee shop on his way back to the office from lunch. She decided to have a latte while she waited. As she held the steaming mug she realized that she wasn't the only one seeking refuge from the rain. There wasn't an empty table in the whole cafe. "Felicity." She turned towards the sound of her name. Across the room, Vic Sage stood up from his table and waved her over.

She hadn't seen her ex since the morning of her mom's funeral. They'd parted as friends and there was no reason for her not to join him. He was sitting with another man, so she didn't need to worry about them rehashing their old relationship. "Hi, Vic," she said as he kissed her cheek.

"Felicity, this is my friend Richard Dragon. Richard, this is Felicity Smoak. Richard and I met when we were both in Iraq." Vic said as way of introduction.

Richard stood up and shook her hand. "It's nice to meet you Felicity."

"You too." Felicity said as she took a seat. "We keep meeting like this." Felicity said to Vic.

"I promise not to spill anything on you this time." Vic said with a wink.

"That's okay, I'm already soaking wet. A cup of coffee won't make much difference."

"You look well. I see the cast is gone." Vic's fingers brushed across her wrist. "It healed okay?"

"Yep, good as new." She took a sip of her latte.

"And Oliver, he's well too?" Vic said almost nonchalantly.

"Yes, he's doing well too." So much for it not being awkward.

"The two of you have been making lots of headlines lately. Congratulations on QC." Felicity was grateful he focused on the business stories and left out the tabloid stories about their relationship. The paparazzi had caught them on their date in October and had been relentless ever since.

"Thank you, but that was all Oliver." It was one thing for Walter and the board to know that Felicity was instrumental in returning Oliver to the CEO position, but as far as the press was concerned, she was just his gold-digging assistant turned gold-digging girlfriend.

"I think we both know that's not true." Vic said as he took a sip of his own coffee.

"So, how are you? Working on anything interesting?" Felicity asked, changing the subject. "I'm sure you've got your eye on something."

"I do what I do best, follow the money. Starling City's been receiving lots of redevelopment money from the federal government and non-profit groups, but it doesn't all seem to be making its way to the people who really need it. There are some people getting rich off the misfortune of others."

"He's made some people angry." Richard said. "He's been receiving threats."

Felicity watched as Vic flashed an angry look to his friend. Vic would pursue the truth no matter the personal cost. "I hope you're being careful."

"As careful as I can be. The police aren't looking into it and your friend, the Arrow, seems to have his hands full these days."

"You know the Arrow?" Richard asked.

"No, I don't." Felicity said. It was bad enough that Vic, a member of the fourth estate, had his suspicions, he didn't need to casually mention them to random strangers in coffee shops.

"She's being modest, the Arrow's saved her life on more than one occasion." Vic challenged.

"That doesn't mean I know him." Felicity said coolly, glancing at the time on her phone.

"Yes, but you also told me nothing was going on between you and Queen." Vic had a smile on his face but it didn't quite make it to his eyes.

Felicity stood up. "Richard, it was very nice to meet you. I'm going to wait for my ride out front. Vic, be safe. Happy Thanksgiving."

Felicity huddled under the awning of the coffee shop and checked her phone. Oliver was still a few minutes away. She checked the road for an available cab. "I'm sorry. I was an ass. Please come back inside." Vic said as he placed a hand against her back. "You shouldn't get soaked because I'm acting like a child."

"My ride will be here soon." Felicity looked into his warm brown eyes and could see the man she'd grown to care about. "I'm sorry that I hurt you, Vic. It was never my intention to. I really enjoyed our time together."

"The heart wants what the heart wants. I get it. It just sucks when the heart of who your heart wants, wants someone else." Vic lit a cigarette.

"You're smoking again?" When they began dating he'd been off cigarettes for six months. "You were doing so well."

"Yeah, stress is a trigger for me." Vic exhaled away from her. "Nothing like receiving some not so veiled threats to pump up the craving for nicotine."

Concerned, Felicity asked, "Are you really receiving death threats?"

"It goes with the territory. I'm sure it's nothing." Vic took another drag on his cigarette.

Felicity didn't want to think too hard about what it said about her that all of the men in her life pursued risks with no concern to their personal safety. "You're looking into some dangerous men. You should take the threats seriously."

Vic dropped his cigarette to the ground. "Richard isn't just my friend. He's my new bodyguard, courtesy of channel 52."

"I'm glad you've got someone watching your back." Diggle pulled up in front of the cafe. "That's my ride. It was good seeing you." Felicity sprinted to the car, the door already opened by Diggle.

"Hey, Felicity." Vic called to her and she turned. "If you ever talk to your green friend, let him know I might have some info that could help him."

VVVVV

Felicity stood next to Oliver's desk in her bare feet on top of a fluffy towel from the executive washroom. She used another towel to dry off her hair. Oliver was sitting on the sofa, watching her. He hadn't said a word to her since before lunch. He sat silently in the back of his car and stared at her the whole ride back to the office. Finally, she'd had enough brooding and stomped over to the sofa. "Do you have something to say to me?"

"How's Vic?" He asked with a smug smile.

"Really?" She pointed to his face and drew small circles with her finger. "What's this face? Are you jealous?"

"I trust you." He huffed.

"I should say so, mister." Felicity couldn't believe he'd say something as stupid as, _I trust you_. If the past two years had proven nothing else, they proved she was trustworthy.

Oliver laughed and she realized her internal monologue hadn't quite stayed internal. "I'm sorry, you're right. Trusting you goes without saying." He stood up and placed his hands on her shoulders. "I'm not jealous, I'm worried. He said something right before you got into the car that upset you. What was it?"

Felicity dropped heavily onto the sofa. "He wants me to arrange a meeting between him and my green friend."

Oliver arched his brow. "Your green friend? It makes me sound like a frog. What does he want? An interview?"

She squirmed on the sofa trying to get comfortable. The sofa might look good but it was incredibly uncomfortable. Or, maybe it was the conversation making her uncomfortable. Discussing her ex-boyfriend with her current boyfriend was pretty awkward. She had no idea how Oliver navigated being in the same room with Laurel, Sara and her. "No, he says he has information about some criminals he's been investigating. I think he's in trouble and looking for help."

"What do you want me to do?" Oliver asked.

"It doesn't matter what I want." She said.

"Of course it does, you cared about him. I think you still do." Oliver looked like he was sucking on a lemon.

"What would you say to his request if we didn't have a past history?" There was a part of her that wanted Oliver and Vic to stay as far away from one another as possible. Another part of her wanted Oliver to help Vic because she worried her ex was going to get himself killed.

"Honestly, he's a reporter, I wouldn't go near him, but then again, he's a good reporter and might know something useful." Oliver shrugged.

"Okay, so we forget he asked." Felicity pulled away from Oliver, picked up her shoes and headed towards his door. "Your next appointment is with the department heads of Applied Sciences and it starts in ten minutes. I need to go make myself presentable."

Oliver stood up and ran his hands over his head. "Felicity, if you really think he's in trouble, I'll meet with him."

Felicity could see the reluctance on his face. He was willing to help, he probably just preferred to do it from a distance. "How about I tell him that the Arrow won't meet with him in person, but he can give me whatever information he has and I'll deliver it?"

"If he's in trouble, I don't want you making yourself a target. I'll meet with him." Oliver smiled as she headed towards the executive washroom. "Maybe we should give him what we've found on the faulty building materials. At the very least he can shine a light on the Building Inspector's office."

Felicity padded over to him and gently tugged on his tie. More than anything, she wanted to give him a kiss, but they'd enacted a strict professional behavior only policy for the office. "I do love you, you know."

"I do."

VVVVV

In the end, they decided that they'd both meet Vic. With the anti-vigilante task force disbanded, Oliver was no longer worried about covert sting operations and Felicity was confident that Captain Lance would give her advance warning if the Arrow was about to be arrested. Oliver hadn't wanted her to come, but she hoped that her presence would have a calming influence on both men. Felicity spotted Vic by the glow from his cigarette as soon as she stepped onto the roof. She'd opted to take the stairs and Oliver had decided on making a more dramatic entrance. If given a choice, Felicity would always take stairs over zip-lining between buildings. Clinging to Oliver was a fantasy come true. Clinging to Oliver while trying not to think about plummeting to her death was more of a nausea inducing nightmare. True they'd had a lot of practice, but it never got easier. "You know, studies say that an ex-smoker who resumes smoking is at a greater risk of getting lung cancer. Those things are going to kill you." Just because they were no longer dating didn't mean she wanted to see him die from cancer.

"I'm pretty sure I won't live long enough to worry about the repercussions of this cigarette." Vic said as he dropped the cigarette and put it out with the toe of his shoe.

Felicity hurried to his side. "Why? What's happened since we last talked?"

Vic smiled. "It's okay, Felicity. No new death threats. I've received an offer from a cable news channel to cover the war in Syria."

"Are you taking it?" Felicity asked with concern. Syria wasn't the safest place for western journalists. Vic was almost as big an adrenaline junkie as Oliver. Neither met a danger they weren't eager to run towards.

"I'm considering it - which is why I wanted to meet with your green friend. Where is he?" Vic asked impatiently.

"I'm here." Oliver stepped out of the shadows, his voice disguised by the synthesizer. "Why do you want to see me?"

Vic took a cautious step towards the Arrow. "I've been doing some investigative work into how money that has been earmarked for re-development seems to be disappearing. I think you've been running your own investigations."

"What of it?" Oliver rasped.

Vic raised his hands. "No judgment here, buddy. I'm a convert to your cause. I've just come across some information and I might be in over my head. Besides, as I was telling Felicity, I might be leaving the city for some time abroad. I don't want these guys to get away with it."

"What do you have?" Felicity asked, her curiosity getting the better of her. Before the meeting, Oliver and Felicity decided that it would be best if Vic only thought Felicity was an intermediary with the Arrow and not his partner in crime fighting. She saw Oliver shoot her a glance as a reminder of their arrangement.

"After disappearing a few months before the siege, the Bratva appear to be having a resurgence in Starling City." Vic held out a thumb drive that the Arrow then pocketed. "They've been worming themselves into many of the city's construction projects. Most of these projects have fallen behind schedule, are over budget or haven't even begun at all - but the money keeps getting paid out."

Felicity could see the line of Oliver's jaw tense. Since he made his deal with Oscar Orlov, the Bratva had been making use of Starling City's port. Oliver allowed some shipments to go through, but the Arrow made sure that any shipment of drugs or guns found their way into police custody. If Oscar had expanded his reach to city government building contracts, he was breaching their agreement and encroaching on Oliver's territory. If what Vic was saying was true, they could have an all out mafia war soon - with Oliver Queen at the center of it.

"I'll take care of it." Oliver said as he gestured for Felicity.

Ignoring Oliver, she asked Vic, "You'll let me know if you're going to Syria, right?"

Vic squeezed Felicity's hand. "I promise, I'll say goodbye before I leave."

"One more thing." Felicity reached into her pocket and withdrew a thumb drive. With a soft voice and a quick glance over to the Arrow, she handed Vic the drive. "You might find this information interesting. Defective building materials have made their way into the city and the Building Inspector's office appears to be turning a blind eye to it."

Vic cocked his head towards the Arrow. "You haven't shared this with your friend?"

Felicity stepped closer to him and lowered her voice. "No, Oliver and I ran into this issue with the construction of the new Applied Sciences building. We've kind of hit a dead end with it and I think it is more important for the people of the city to know that their buildings might be unsafe than having a Building Inspector receive a thump on the head from the Arrow."

Vic took the drive from her. "Alright, I'll take a look, but I suspect that this might have a lot to do with the info I just gave to your friend."

Oliver, standing on the ledge of the roof, cleared his throat and extended his hand to Felicity. Resigned to making a dramatic exit, instead of taking the sensible stairs, she allowed Oliver to pull her into his side. As soon as her arms were around his neck, he stepped off the roof. When they got home, Felicity was going to need to remind him that her zip-lining off the roof with him had never been part of the plan.

VVVVV

Later that night, Felicity sat in her pajamas reading through the documents Vic had provided to them. Oliver stood staring out the living room window, his tablet clenched in his hand. Even though he was dressed for bed, she could tell that he wouldn't be going to sleep anytime soon. The tension he carried radiated off of him and was making her jumpy. Placing her tablet on the coffee table, she rose from the sofa. Her approach was reflected in the glass and he shifted to accommodate her presence. She wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her cheek against his chest. The steady thrumming of his heart, normally, relaxed her, but tonight it held no comfort because his body was tightly coiled for a fight. "Come to bed. We can think about this tomorrow."

Oliver placed a kiss on the top of her head. "You go ahead. I'll join you in a little while."

"You say that like I can't tell when you're lying." Felicity teased, trying to shake him from his brooding.

"Felicity, this is serious." Oliver said pulling away from her.

"Don't you think I know that?" She didn't even try to hide her hurt feelings. Most of the time Oliver treated her like a true partner with her opinion carrying equal weight. More often than not, he deferred to her because he trusted her judgment more than his own. But when Oliver decided to shut her out, even her loud voice struggled to break through.

"I have no choice. Oscar is challenging me and I must respond." He said dispassionately.

"Why not let the Arrow take out his operation? Oliver, you don't need to be involved."

Oliver smirked at her statement. Whenever he referred to himself as two distinct and separate personas she'd roll her eyes. "Oliver Queen needs to be the one responding."

"We've had this argument before. You're not Bratva, not here in Starling. Unless you have a secret mafia lair that I don't know about. If you do, I'd be impressed because I have no idea where you'd find the time to manage another secret identity. I'm actually amazed you didn't graduate from college, you have pretty good time management skills and you can function on little sleep."

"Felicity," he said sharply.

"You don't have a secret mafia lair that I don't know about, right? It's not like you haven't kept a secret lair before." She was teasing, but there was a slight edge to her tone. She still hadn't gotten over that he'd kept a secret Arrow lair from her. She didn't know what upset her more, that he had kept it from her or that she hadn't discovered it on her own. She'd believed Oliver's life was an open book. Sure his five years missing were a mystery, but once he returned to Starling, Felicity thought she knew everything - that he trusted her with everything.

Sighing he reached for her hands. "Felicity, I'm not keeping another secret lair from you, Bratva or otherwise."

"Then I know, you're not going to start a mob war over an insult to your Bratva Captain honor."

"Do you honestly think that this is about honor? If I don't respond, we will lose control of everything. If Oscar thinks I will let him get away with this, he'll keep testing the boundaries until he forces me out of the city . He'll come for me, Thea and you."

"So what are you going to do?" She asked, afraid of his answer.

"I don't know yet. If I don't handle this right, I could get all of us killed." A small pit formed in her stomach at the look on his face. He wasn't just worried, he was afraid.

"Call Anatoly. He promised Starling would remain Bratva free."

"Yes, but that's before I opened up the ports to Oscar. I let him in the door, I can't go complaining to Anatoly now."

"I hate this." Felicity said angrily as she stormed away to her bedroom. It was her fault Oscar had come into Oliver's life. He was now paying for her mother's sins. As she got into bed she cursed Oliver for revealing his Bratva identity to her step-father. Big Stevie would've paid her mom's debts and, regardless of what Oliver believed, he never would've asked her for anything in return.

"I thought the rule was to never go to bed angry." Oliver said leaning against the door frame.

Since August, Felicity had been waiting for Oscar to call in his favor. She kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. Instead of Oscar demanding Oliver commit murder, he was now trying to actively take a territory away from a non-active Bratva Captain. The absurdity of the situation had made her tense. Oliver was going to have to fight a war for a territory he only pretended to run in order to protect her. "I'm not angry. I'm frustrated." Felicity said to her ceiling. "I'm sorry, Oliver. I know this isn't your fault but sometimes I feel like we're never going to be able to get out from everything that wants to squash us."

"Nothing is going to squash us." Oliver said sitting on the edge of the bed. "We're just tired. Let's go to sleep and we'll figure out something tomorrow."

"I'll cancel all the stuff for Thanksgiving in the morning." Felicity said as she began to run through all the tasks she'd need to complete to figure out the extent of Oscar's influence in Starling.

Oliver rolled onto the bed, nestled between her legs and rested his chin on her shoulder. "We're not cancelling Thanksgiving. We're taking time off and damn it, we're going to be thankful," he growled.

Felicity couldn't help but laugh. "Okay, we're not cancelling Thanksgiving and we're evidently celebrating our thankfulness with extreme prejudice." Felicity caught his pouting lips between hers and soon all thoughts of the Bratva and Oscar were banished from her mind.

VVVVV

If someone had told Felicity a year ago that Oliver Queen would be standing in her kitchen peeling fifteen pounds of potatoes the night before they hosted Thanksgiving, together, she would've told them they were insane. "I did live in Russia, you know." He said seemingly out of the blue.

"I said that out loud, didn't I?" Felicity moved around him to grab a measuring cup from the cabinet. "Wait, what does potato peeling have to do with your time in Russia?"

"As part of my Bratva initiation I was in charge of the potato peeling for our homemade vodka." He dropped the last of the cubed potatoes into the pot and moved to the sink to replace the water.

Felicity froze and watched him. She could see the tips of his ears turning red and she gently swatted him with a dish towel. "Oliver Queen, it is nearly impossible to tell when you're joking." She returned to her pie filling. "Peeling potatoes for vodka, I can't believe I almost fell for that."

Oliver put his arms around her waist and kissed her industrial piercing. "I'm sorry, I couldn't resist. What do you want me to do next?"

"The only things left to do are to pull the table out from against the wall and to set the table. The table cloth and napkins are over there on the counter."

He kissed her ear again before he removed his hands from her waist. "That I can do."

Felicity finished assembling her pies as Oliver set the table. His cell rang as she placed the two pumpkin pies into the oven. She watched as he moved his conversation into the bedroom. She wiped her hands on the dish towel and stepped into her living room. Oliver wasn't one to keep secrets from her anymore. She worried that the Bratva was about to ruin their Thanksgiving. She inspected his work setting the table and was impressed by what a good job he did. All the fancy dinners and receptions had paid off. The silverware was set correctly and everyone had a napkin folded like a rose in the center of their plate. Oliver's hidden skills were often a delightful surprise.

When he returned to the living room he sank onto her sofa. "Everything okay? Was that Anatoly?"

"Anatoly?" He looked surprised. "No, my attorney."

"Ned?" She asked sitting down next to him. The family lawyer calling the day before Thanksgiving couldn't be good. "What's wrong?" The pallor of his skin had her worried.

A rueful smile spread across his face. "For once, nothing's wrong. We got the mansion back. The judge decided that our trusts included the mansion and its contents and can't be sought as damages by the victims of the quake in their civil lawsuits. We have full access to our trust funds again."

"Congratulations. You're officially a billionaire again." Felicity said teasingly.

Oliver stood up and moved to the window. "Yeah."

Felicity followed and put a hand on his back. "This is a good thing, right?"

He put an arm around her waist. "Of course it is."

The lines on his forehead had her worried. No one talked himself out of a victory faster than Oliver. "Your face hasn't seemed to have received the memo. What's wrong?"

Oliver sighed heavily and Felicity's heart clenched. "I never thought we'd get it all back. I expected the courts to seize everything for the victims of the Glades." He turned to face her and his eyes were moist. "Every penny should go to the people of the Glades."

"You and Thea had nothing to do with the Undertaking. If it weren't for you, a lot more people would've died. The sins of the parents shouldn't be placed on the heads of their children."

"I know Thea and I aren't responsible for the actions of our parents but we didn't earn this money, we inherited it. We don't deserve to keep it." Oliver's eyes had lost their focus and she knew that he was reliving the night of the Undertaking.

"Oh, Oliver." She wondered if he would ever be free of all the guilt he carried. "If anyone can do great things with billions of dollars, it's you. You and Thea can set up your own charitable foundation and direct your billions where ever you think it will do the most good. You can find your own way with this too."

He kissed her forehead. "You're right. This is a good thing and Thea and I can make it a great thing." She hugged him tightly. "I can already think of the first good thing I can do with the money."

She smiled at him. "Yeah, what's that?"

"I can keep a promise I made to you." He winked playfully.

She furrowed her brow. "What promise?"

"I promised you that the first thing I would buy when I got my money back was a new server for you."

Felicity laughed. "I was so drunk that night."

"But I wasn't, so the promise stands." He kissed the top of her head.

She rose up on her toes and planted a kiss squarely on his lips. "I've already got one all picked out."

He laughed and kissed her back. "I'm not surprised."

The next day her small apartment was full to bursting with company and Felicity couldn't be happier. The television was on as, Oliver, Dig, Roy, Ted, Lance, Laurel and Sara watched football, baby Sara slept in Felicity and Oliver's bedroom while Lyla, Nyssa and Felicity busied themselves in the kitchen. Walter and Thea were spending the morning volunteering at a shelter to help Thea assuage some of her Merlyn guilt and bond with her step-father. Felicity was basting the turkey and trying not to laugh as Nyssa read a recipe from Pinterest to Lyla and argued over whether or not Lyla was dicing or mincing. Her laughter was cut off by the raised voice of the Captain. "Are you a complete idiot?"

"Dad!" Laurel and Sara yelled at the same time.

Felicity stepped into the living room to see which of her guests could possibly have upset Lance. "What happened?" She asked as lightly as she could. Looking at the television she realized the target of his ire. "Captain, Oliver isn't an idiot." Oliver was an idiot, about a lot of things, but now that he was her boyfriend she felt obligated to defend him. She could call him an idiot, but no one else got to, except, maybe Dig.

"Oh, he's an idiot alright, but I was talking about you." Lance grabbed the remote and rewound the advertisement on the television. It was an ad for News 52, telling the viewers to stay tuned after the game to see whether or not Starling City's favorite playboy has settled down. There was a video of Oliver and Felicity from the day before. They were exiting the grocery store and Oliver had playfully picked Felicity up by the waist and spun her around. "You should know better." Lance looked around the room and spotted Ted. "Felicity, do you need ice?" Felicity looked at him with confusion. "You need ice. Ted, go to the store around the corner and buy Felicity some ice."

"Dad." Laurel seethed.

"Ted, son, we're about to have a family argument and its best if you go get that ice now." Lance said without taking his eyes off of Felicity who now had Oliver's arm draped protectively over her shoulder.

Ted shrugged, kissed Laurel and headed out the front door without a word.

Everyone was now standing in the living room and had started talking at once. Felicity realized that she finally had the big family Thanksgiving gathering she always wanted, right down to the deafening argument that no one seemed to know the reason for. "Enough," bellowed Quentin. Turning and pointing at Dig he said, "I expected this from them, but I thought your main purpose was to be the voice of reason and keep the two of them from doing something that would get them both killed."

"Captain Lance," Oliver said calmly. "Whatever you think I'm doing, you're wrong."

Lance shook his head and laughed. "Can we agree on one thing? I'm not an idiot."

"No one thinks you're an idiot." Felicity said sweetly. Oliver had moved to stand behind her and placed his hands on her shoulder. She couldn't decide if he was trying to reassure her or use her as a human shield.

"Neither are the criminal elements in this city." Lance said glumly as he gestured to everyone in the room. "I know what the lot of you get up to together at night. If I can figure it out, so can a criminal misanthrope with half a brain." He walked over to Oliver and Felicity. "Kid, the moment I arrested you for being the vigilante, I knew in my heart that I was right, I just couldn't prove it. Then the Arrow starts communicating to me through Oliver Queen's employee. Let's just say the picture started to get clearer. The last puzzle piece started to click into place when my Sara started showing up to crime scenes with the Arrow, after I just saw her with Oliver."

"Captain," Oliver started but words failed to come out even as his jaw opened and closed.

Lance grabbed Oliver's arm. "Relax kid. I've pretended not to know because it was easier not knowing."

Felicity laced her fingers through Oliver's in order to stop his nervous habit of rolling his fingers together. "Captain, we appreciate you not arresting us, but why are you getting upset after all this time?"

"Because now your relationship is out there for the public. After your kidnapping, the two of you became the darlings of the tabloids. They're watching your every move. You've been present for too many Arrow sightings, not to mention how many times he's rescued you. It won't be too hard a leap to make that the man who has saved your life dressed as the Arrow is the same man warming your bed at night."

Felicity was ready to throttle the Captain. It had taken too much work to get Oliver to the place where he was willing to put aside his fears for her safety so they could be an actual couple. Now that she had Oliver, she wasn't going to let anyone come between them. Before she could speak, Oliver did. "You think we should break up?"

Lance sighed and looked at Felicity. She silently begged him not to blow up her life. Oliver respected the Captain and if he told him that she was unsafe as his girlfriend she knew that she'd be boyfriendless by dinner. "No, but you need to be smart about this. The two of you need to start being boring. Stay away from the paparazzi. Steer clear of high profile events for awhile. The Arrow needs to stop being seen with our girl here." He took Felicity's hand. "No more fieldwork for you anymore. It isn't safe for you and it isn't safe for him."

Oliver looked at Felicity. "What do you think?"

Felicity realized that she had a roomful of their friends watching them and waiting for her response. Oliver's question had thrown her off. When it came to her safety, she never got an initial vote. Usually, he'd make a decision and then they'd fight about it until one of them saw reason. The thought of never getting to do fieldwork again was disappointing. She wasn't a fan of being bait for a serial killer, but she did enjoy the occasional breaking and entering. As she looked around the room at all the strong women in her life she could feel that familiar pang of insecurity. Why did they need her if she was the weak link that could bring them all down? She looked back at Oliver and her choice was made. If being with Oliver meant keeping a low profile as the Arrow's partner, she would do it. The press would eventually get bored of them and move onto someone else. "Okay."

"Okay?" Lance and Oliver asked together.

"That seemed too easy." Lance surveyed the room for confirmation.

The look that Roy and Dig gave one another had her narrowing her eyes at them. Roy began to squirm under her scrutiny. She returned her attention to Lance. "I'm more than happy to keep a low profile from the press. Oliver can take Thea to the next few galas. As for the field, I will stay out of the field as long as it can be avoided." She raised a hand to silence Oliver. "Let's face it, there are times when you need me on site to do my thing."

Lance resumed play on the television. "Great. I'm glad that's settled." Lance sat back down in front of the television. "This conversation never happened."

Everyone just stood in the living room staring at one another. It wasn't everyday that your secret identity got blown by the Captain of police. Felicity raised her eyebrows at Oliver and he shrugged at her.

"The recipe clearly calls for mincing," Nyssa stepped back into the kitchen with Lyla on her heels.

"I am mincing," Lyla said defensively.

"You are dicing and you're lack of precision doesn't surprise me considering A.R.G.U.S.' sloppy execution in the field." Nyssa picked up the knife. "This is minicing."

Dig shot Sara a look and she grinned. Oliver squeezed Felicity's hand and returned to the sofa to watch the game. Everyone seemed to relax and returned their attention to the game. Felicity returned to the kitchen to make sure the knives were only used on vegetables.

The front door opened and Ted poked his head in. Seeing that everyone had returned to watching the game, he entered Felicity's apartment with Thea and Walter on his heels. "Here's your ice."

Oliver stood and greeted Thea and Walter. He offered Walter a beer and exchanged a soda for the glass of wine Thea poured herself. Felicity took the bag of ice from Ted and turned in a circle. She had no idea what she was going to do with it. Her freezer was full. "Um, thank you. I'm sorry about that."

"No problem. I've got a family too." Ted grabbed a carrot off the counter and returned to the living room.

Felicity smiled. Even with all their arguments and secrets, she had people around her who accepted and cared about one another. She finally had a family of her own and she couldn't be any happier.

**Notes: Thank you for reading. Your feedback is always welcomed.**

**Up Next: December: Oliver and Thea get the mansion back. Oliver surprises Felicity. Any guesses?**


	3. December

**Notes: Thank you for all your kind comments for the last chapter. Your choice to favorite the story or me is also greatly appreciated. A big thank you to my guest reviewers, especially Jen who always takes the time to send me her thoughts and share her enthusiasm for the story.**

**Your opinions were unanimous - you like the long chapters, which is good, because this one is a long one.**

**The Arrow characters and universe do not belong to me.**

Oliver, Felicity and Thea stood in the foyer of the Queen mansion all lost to their separate thoughts and memories. Unfortunately, most of Felicity's memories were of unpleasant encounters with Moira and Mirakuru enhanced super soldiers. She ran her fingers across the mantle and inspected the thick layer of dust. "The first thing you're going to need to do is hire back the household staff. I love you, but I'm not helping you dust this entire house."

Thea laughed. "The first thing we need to do is turn the heat on. It's freezing in here."

"Speedy, it was always cold in here. It's a drafty old mansion."

"Okay, so the first thing we need to do is install new insulation and energy efficient windows." Thea said as she climbed the stairs. "I'm going to go check out my room. I think I left my favorite Louboutin's behind."

"She's right," Felicity said. "You really should make the house more energy efficient. You're working to make QC green, no reason you shouldn't do the same for the mansion. Maybe install some solar panels on the roof or the grounds. We could maybe get the PR department to tie in the refurbishing of the mansion with QC's new alternative energy technology announcement." She winked at him and spread her hands out in front of her like unfurling a banner. "Queen goes Green."

He gave her a sideways look. "Felicity. It's cloudy in Starling City three hundred days a year."

"Okay, forget the solar panels. You could install some wind turbines."

"Didn't you send me some articles on some possible health side effects due to living in proximity with wind turbines and why we need to invest in research to develop a safer turbine?"

"Have I ever told you how much it annoys me when you pay attention to something I say and then remember it later in order to counter one of my arguments?"

"I always pay attention to what you say." He grinned with satisfaction.

Her look told him that she doubted that statement to be true. "Okay, forget the turbines and solar panels but you should definitely do the insulation and the windows."

"I'll add it to the list." Oliver walked into the living room and pulled a sheet off one of the sofas.

"When do you think you'll be ready to move in? Maybe you can be in by Christmas. Thea might like to resume the tradition of the annual Christmas party." Felicity said excitedly as she removed sheets from the desk by the window. When she turned around, Oliver was standing in the center of the room, staring blankly ahead. His thumb was rubbing against his index finger. "Hey, what's going on?"

He shook his head, "I don't want to move back here."

"What?" She moved to stand in front of him and took his hands.

"I'm happy living at your place, with you."

"Yes, because it is better than living in the lair." She teased.

He looked hurt. "That's not why."

Felicity was confused. From the moment Isabel seized the company and the courts froze their assets, they'd been working to recover the family legacy. "You and Thea fought so hard to get this place back. Oliver, this is your home."

He shook his head. "No, you're my home. I don't want to live anywhere you're not."

Felicity's heart raced. These were all the things she'd hoped he'd say to her when the very thought of a relationship between them was unthinkable. Now that they were together, everything seemed to be moving at light speed. She worried that maybe they were going too fast as a way to compensate for what they'd denied themselves for so long. "You want me to move into the mansion with you and Thea?"

"Yes." When he saw the look of hesitation on her face he said, "Why not?"

Felicity turned to take in the formal living room. It was a very long way from the rundown apartments and double-wide trailers she'd spent her childhood in. "My whole apartment can fit inside your foyer."

He smiled softly at her. "That is a statement, not a reason."

When they returned from Vegas, Oliver brought her home and never really left. Every time they returned from the lair, more and more of his belongings came with him. She'd emptied out half her drawer space and a quarter of her closet for him, which was as big a commitment as she'd ever made for someone. When you loved clothes as much as she did, the sacrifice of any drawer and closet real estate was painful. "I know that we're living together now and it just kind of happened without either of us really discussing it, but moving in here with you seems like an awfully big step. Are we ready for this?"

He casually shrugged. "I don't see why not. This is going to be your house too, eventually. So, you might as well move in now."

Felicity's brain stopped all thought for five seconds. He just told her that the mansion would one day be hers. A girl needs a few seconds to process that kind of information. Leave it to Oliver to never do anything half way. Once he was in, he was in. She loved that he was decisive, however, his decisiveness also had a way of stressing her out. Her brain rebooted. "Wait. Are you proposing to me? Was that a proposal?"

Oliver's eyes went wide. "No," he spluttered. "Yes." Oliver gulped air like a fish out of water. "I mean, no it wasn't a proposal, but yes I meant that I'm going to marry you and this is going to be your home one day. Isn't that what we're working towards?" Felicity's legs kind of gave way beneath her and Oliver had to maneuver her into a chair before she collapsed completely. He knelt between her legs. "Are you okay? Have I just screwed everything up?"

She looked up into his eyes and ran her fingers along his scruff. "It's a good thing that wasn't a proposal, because as proposals go, it was a terrible one. A girl fantasizes about a guy proposing and it never consists of him saying, you might as well move in."

"You've fantasized about marrying me?" He teased.

"Easy there, Mr. Queen. I said I fantasized about a marriage proposal, but it was more of in the abstract than about you specifically. I think the first guy I fantasized about proposing to me was a Power Ranger." She gasped and her hand flew to her mouth and her eyes went wide as she remembered her first crush. "Tom Oliver, the Green Ranger. Oh, I do have a type."

"So, you don't want to marry me? You want to marry a Mighty Morphin Power Ranger?" A smirk played across his lips.

"At this very moment, marriage isn't high on my list of things to do." When she saw the look of disappointment on his face she leaned in and kissed him. "I've already told you that you're it for me and I can't imagine a day where I don't get to wake up to you, but I don't think we need to be married for that to happen."

He smiled and kissed her. "Good, that's settled. You're moving in with me."

"Wait, have I just been bamboozled?" She began to gesticulate her hands back and forth between them. "Did you just fluster me with a non-proposal proposal in order to get me to move in with you?"

Oliver's eyes went wide. "I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh my God, you totally bamboozled me." She said as she playfully swatted his arm.

"What has my brother done now?" Thea asked with feigned exasperation. She held a pair of red soled heels in her hands.

"Felicity has agreed to move in with us." Oliver said triumphantly.

Thea smiled and hugged Felicity. "It will be nice to have another girl to live with." Turning to Oliver she said, "You do realize that the press is going to have a field day with this."

"We're already living together." Oliver said defensively.

"Not in the Queen mansion, you're not." Thea said smugly. "I think you'll want to speak with our PR folks before you feed poor Felicity to the wolves."

Felicity squeezed Oliver's hand. "It won't be so bad. What's the worse they can say? They're already speculating that I'm only dating you to murder you to get to your money."

"That's the spirit." Thea grinned. "Gold-digger strikes pay dirt."

Felicity laughed. "Scion sleeping with the enemy."

Thea fought back a giggle and in a serious voice said, "Blonde bimbo baits hook. Look out for baby bump."

Felicity placed a hand over her mouth to hide her smile from Oliver who was wincing like he had three broken ribs. "Enough, enough." He said with a grimace. "I'll call the PR group."

"Too bad it's winter. With all the coats and heavy sweaters the press is definitely going to go on baby bump watch." Thea winked at Felicity when Oliver groaned.

The thought of the press looking for any change in her waistline was not a pleasant one. She didn't really want speculation as to whether she was pregnant or just getting fat in the press. Felicity looked down at her stomach and pat it thoughtfully. "I guess no more Big Belly Burger for me."

VVVVV

"Arrow? Arrow?" Felicity called through the comms. The team had responded to an apartment fire in the Glades. The building had been engulfed in flames within minutes and according to the emergency services scanner the building had begun to collapse. The last she'd heard from Oliver he was heading into the building to pull out more residents. "Arsenal. Do you have eyes on him?"

A heavy wet cough sounded in her ears. "Negative, Blondie. I just came back out the front, we separated when we went in."

"Arrow. Please respond." She called again, trying to keep the hysteria from her voice. Just then the scanner erupted with frantic cries and she could hear through her comm connection as the building collapsed. She sprang up from her chair. "Oliver! Oliver!"

A burst of static sounded and then she heard a cough. "I'm here. I'm okay."

She could hear Roy speaking softly to Oliver. He was probably checking to see if he was okay to ride his bike. Roy coughed again. "We're on our way home."

Felicity sprang into action and pulled two oxygen canisters and masks from storage. She also went through her medical supplies pulling out burn creams and antibiotics. As she waited for her boys to return she continued listening to the scanner. It sounded like at least one firefighter was missing. The sound of the lair door opening had her moving to the stairs. "It's your night off. What are you doing here?" She asked John as he sprinted down the stairs.

"I was listening to the scanner. Are they alright?" Dig inspected the supplies she laid out on the med table.

"They're on their way back. I don't know in what condition." Dig squeezed her hand and began to set up the oxygen tanks.

They waited in silence as they watched the lair door from the bottom of the stairs. They both let out a breath when the door opened and Oliver and Roy hobbled down the stairs, leaning on one another. Dig reached for Oliver and put his arm around his waist. Oliver's arm draped around Dig's shoulder for support. Felicity and Roy performed the same routine and the four made it over to the med table. They affixed the oxygen masks to their patient's mouths and then began to inspect them for any burns or injuries. Felicity ran her hands over Roy's arms, chest and back, looking for any holes or burns in his uniform. Satisfied, she placed the oxygen mask on the table and then removed his jacket and pulled his t-shirt over his head. Once she secured the mask back to his face, she began to inspect his ribs because she'd noticed that he'd flinched when she put her arm around his waist. A good sized purple bruise was forming on his left side and she gently prodded it, checking to see if anything was broken. "They're not broken," he rasped through his mask.

"No, but they'll need to be taped." She said as she walked across the lair to the bathroom.

She turned on the warm water and filled a basin. As she returned to the med table, she allowed herself to take her first look at Oliver. Dig was speaking softly to him as he helped to remove Oliver's t-shirt. It appeared that Oliver had sustained a minor burn to his left shoulder. His skin was pink, but there was no sign of blistering. She returned to Roy's side and began to wipe his blackened face with a warm cloth. He muttered some half-hearted protests through the mask but didn't put up any resistance. "There's that jaw that stops girls in their tracks," she teased as she got the last of the soot from his face. "Once you're off the oxygen you should take a shower and then I'll tape your ribs." Once he nodded in agreement, she turned her attention to Oliver.

She rested her hands on his thighs and looked into his eyes. The thick black soot covering his face made his eyes even more striking. He pulled the oxygen mask from his face and wheezed, "I'm fine."

She placed the mask back on his face and turned her attention to Dig. He was placing ointment onto Oliver's shoulder. When she caught his eye, he smiled. Sighing in relief, she returned her focus back to Oliver, who raised his eyebrows. His way of saying, _See, I told you so_. She rolled her eyes at him and began to wipe his face with a clean cloth. When she finished, he lowered his mask and with a gravelly voice said, "What, my jaw doesn't stop girls in their tracks?"

She kissed his jaw and smiled sweetly. "You have a perfectly lovely jaw, but Roy could cut glass with his." Oliver hrmphed as Roy and Diggle burst out laughing. Roy began to choke and Dig had to pat him vigorously on the back. Felicity leaned into Oliver and whispered into his ear. "Your abs would stop traffic, but luckily, I'm the only girl who gets to see them." She stepped away, smirking when she heard his low growl. She returned to listening to the scanner and lowered her head in relief when all firefighters were accounted for. Maybe they'd get lucky and no one died in the blaze that was still raging.

Oliver lifted his mask. "I need you to figure out who the contractor was on that building and if our corrupt Building Inspector signed off on the occupancy permit. I also want to see the Fire Inspector's report. I want to know why that building burned the way it did."

"You think this is one of Oscar's buildings?" Diggle asked.

"I don't know, but if it is, we will be planning a trip to Vegas." Oliver began to cough.

"I'll get right on it." Lifting the mask back over his mouth, she said. "When Roy is done in the shower, you need to take one. You smell like barbecue and I haven't had dinner yet."

VVVVV

Felicity sat staring at her monitor. She had hours of work for Applied Sciences waiting for her, but she couldn't stop looking at the research she'd done on the building fire. Nine people had died, including five children. She closed the window displaying the faces of the smiling children. Their faces had been haunting her dreams and she was pretty sure they would continue to do so even after they caught whoever was responsible for their deaths. Even though she was in her QC office, she was connected to her new server in the lair. True to his word, Oliver had given her a blank check on selecting equipment for her night job. Her new server was fast as lightening and to be honest, she might've fallen in love with it. The best part, she no longer had to worry that anyone would trace any of her Arrow research back to QC. She'd made that mistake before and she wouldn't make it again. She was trying to decide where all the faulty building materials were coming from, who was using them and most importantly, was Oscar involved? The research Vic had provided had been helpful. He'd identified several contractors who all had ties to the Bratva, but not necessarily Oscar. She'd also hacked into Chief Building Inspector Roger Alsop's email and was also tracing his bank accounts. She knew that Tommy had paid a bribe to Alsop to get Verdant opened without an inspection of their secret basement hideout. The guy was dirty, so it was only a matter of time before the money told her everything she needed to know. So far, the trail had led to several off-shore bank accounts, but that had never stopped her before, it only slowed her down.

What was most concerning was the proliferation of the faulty materials. It appeared that not all of the contractors building with counterfeit materials knew it. With all the building activity in the city, Starling was now the most expensive place in the country for building supplies. Contractors were paying top dollar for their materials and in exchange, they were getting deliveries that were five to ten percent counterfeited. Well, that was Felicity's highly educated guess based on facts. The contractors wouldn't necessarily know there was anything wrong until after the building was completed and underwent some type of structural stress like an earthquake or a fire. They'd lucked out with the construction of Applied Sciences. By chance, a section of the building had a greater amount of counterfeit steel beams and when a story was added on top of it, the beams began to buckle.

Fires in new construction were also on the rise in the city. So far, the Chief Arson Investigator, David McLaren, had attributed them all to space heaters, which, at first look, wasn't all that suspicious in the winter. However, when Felicity had met Laurel for lunch the day before, she was told about the courthouse scuttlebutt. It seemed that the majority of Starling City's public servants thought that there was something suspicious about the fires that had claimed twelve lives in addition to the nine that died in the fire Oliver and Roy responded to. As soon her lunch with Laurel was over, Felicity raced back to the office to peak at McLaren's reports. No sign of an accelerant was found at any of the scenes, nor were there any comments about flammable drywall, poorly insulated wiring or faulty steel beams. Felicity suspected that McLaren was probably on the take and so she set up a trace on his bank account. She didn't want to share any of this with Oliver until she was absolutely certain. Everything with Oscar was way too volatile for her to make any suppositions.

"Thea said you missed your appointment with the decorator." Oliver strode into her office carrying a paper bag. "Peggy said you didn't eat your lunch."

Felicity looked up and glanced at her assistant through their shared glass wall. She needed to remind Peggy that her responsibilities didn't include tattling on her to Oliver about whether she ate or how much caffeine she consumed in any given day. Peggy smiled at her as she shrugged her shoulders. She reached out her hand to take the bag from Oliver. "Fine."

"Don't be mad at Peggy. Technically, I outrank you and she kind of has to answer to me." Oliver took her hand and led her into the conference room.

"I don't like you spying on me." Felicity huffily placed her salad onto the table.

Oliver arched a brow at her. "If I were to ask Mrs. Worth," his third assistant since he returned as CEO, "how many times a day you ask her, if I've eaten, if I'm pacing, if I'm wearing my grumpy face, what would she tell me?"

She looked at him coolly. "That's completely different."

"How?"

"Because, I'm the one asking." She couldn't help smiling when she saw him grin. She wasn't really angry with him. She liked the idea that he wanted to look after her. "Don't get me wrong, I love my job, but not being able to just look up and see you through the wall," she shrugged, "I don't know. I guess I got used to knowing your moods and anticipating your needs. Wow, that sounded way dirtier than I meant, especially considering that I didn't take care of those needs when I was your assistant." Oliver laughed. "What I meant to say was that by just glancing through the glass I knew what was going on with you and I was able to manage you before you went off the rails."

"Manage me?" Oliver stole a cucumber out of her salad. "I didn't realize you were managing me." The glint in his eyes, told her he knew exactly what she'd been up to.

Now she was the one cocking her eyebrow. "You're kidding me, right? That's pretty much the number one job responsibility for anyone working for you." She was teasing him, but Oliver really was high maintenance at both his jobs. "If you get too grumpy during the day, you're an absolute bear at night and I have to listen to you be all, grrr. Just consider Mrs. Worth as our new early grumpy Oliver Queen warning system."

"Well, I'm still asking Peggy to spy on you." He took another cucumber. "Just consider it a boyfriend's prerogative."

"Did you eat?" She took a bite of her salad and really wished she hadn't given up carbs because of her baby bump look out paranoia. "I didn't get a chance to ask Mrs. Worth."

"Sushi with Walter." Felicity pouted her lips as she took another bite of her disappointing salad. "I would've brought you something, but you were supposed to be out to lunch with Thea and the decorator."

Felicity sighed. Ever since she agreed to move into the mansion things had been hectic and she hadn't had time to plan the logistics of a move. Oliver had asked her to pick out a bedroom for them. His only conditions were not to choose his old bedroom or his parents'. She appreciated that he wanted to make her comfortable and didn't want either of them to be haunted by girlfriends past or the dysfunction of his parents' marriage. She picked a room that got morning sun and a view of the garden. In the summer, they'd be able to sleep with the windows open and listen to the fountain. If the room also happened to have the biggest walk-in closet in the whole mansion, it was merely a coincidence. The only problem was the room currently looked like it was decorated by an exploding Louis XVI. Oliver complained that he felt like an eighty year old woman every time he walked into the room. It wasn't that Felicity didn't want to decorate the room for them, it was just overwhelming with everything else she had going on. "I'm sorry, I just got busy. I told them I'd reschedule."

"Thea and the decorator will be at the apartment at seven. Thea thinks it will help for the decorator to see your style in person. The new windows will be installed in our room by the end of the week. We're running out of time if we want to be in before the end of the year."

"Oliver. Why would you do that? I can't meet with them tonight. I have to finish my presentation for the board, not to mention the research you asked me to do." Felicity pushed her lunch away as the thought of her to do list robbed her of her appetite.

Oliver reached over and took her hands in his. "Hey. What's going on?"

She withdrew her hands and pulled her salad back. "Nothing."

"And don't say nothing." He spun her chair to face him. "We don't need to move into the mansion if you don't want to. I'm sorry if I got carried away."

Felicity could only imagine what the myriad of women who fantasized about being Oliver Queen's girlfriend would think of her if they knew she was apprehensive to move into his mansion. "It's a bit overwhelming. Thea wants me to interview maids this weekend. I don't even know where to begin when interviewing a maid. She also wants me to help her pick out the dinner service since Slade's goons destroyed the old one. Oliver, I didn't know what a dinner service was. I had to Google it." She took a deep breath. "I don't know how to do this and one day you're going to realize that I'm just some girl from the wrong side of the tracks."

Oliver flexed his jaw and she realized that instead of making him understand, she'd only succeeded in making him angry. "I don't let anyone talk that way about you. What makes you think that I'd tolerate it just because you said it? You're talking about the woman I love and she isn't just _some girl_."

"Oliver, I

"No. If you're not comfortable moving into the mansion, we'll stay put. I don't care where I live as long as I'm with you. But, if you don't want to move in because you don't think you're good enough, I won't accept that. That's your mother talking."

She smiled at him. He was always defending her, even from herself. "I won't do that to you. It's your home and it's important to you and it's important to Thea that you live under the same roof."

"I don't want you to be miserable because you want to make me happy. If you're miserable, I'm miserable."

"I know I'm being ridiculous, but I feel like I'm the emperor without any clothes. Put me in front of the board to talk about technology and I won't even blink, but ask me to throw them a dinner party and there is a good chance I'll faint from an anxiety attack."

Oliver's voice went soft and he traced patterns on her hand. "Felicity, I just want you to move in with me. I honestly didn't even think about the other stuff or how you'd feel about it. I'll ask Thea to do everything on her own. We thought that since the maids will be in and out of our room you'd like to pick someone you're comfortable with. But, you don't need to be involved. Thea will know to hire someone discreet."

She squeezed his hand. "I guess I should start watching Downton Abbey for research instead of entertainment."

Oliver visibly relaxed. "It's going to be fine, I promise. You just need to tell me when it gets to be too much and we'll face it together. All of this will get easier. Besides, Thea said the decorator had some impressive sketches for your new closet."

She laughed. "No fair. The way to a girl's heart is through her custom designed closet." He looked over his shoulder to make sure they were alone and gave her a quick kiss. "Okay, I'll meet with the decorator tonight, but the Robin Hood poster is coming, no matter what."

He grinned. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

VVVVV

Moving day had finally arrived and through the magic of being a billionaire, their bedroom, bathroom and closet had all been redone in less than three weeks. A small army had been employed to make sure everything was ready for them to move in by Christmas. Oliver entered their new bedroom and placed the box he was holding where she pointed. If she wasn't so angry with him, she'd be admiring how his t-shirt stretched across his shoulders or how good he looked in his jeans when he put the box down. "I don't know why you won't tell me where you're going."

"It's a surprise." Oliver tapped the tip of her nose playfully.

"I don't like it when you keep things from me." She leaned against their new dresser. "Tomorrow is Christmas Eve."

"Okay, three things. First, I'm not keeping anything from you. It's a surprise and you'll find out what it is soon. Second, I'm only going for one night. Third, you don't get to play the Christmas Eve card." He winked at her.

Technically, he was right. Christmas Eve was just another day on the calendar for her that usually involved Chinese food and empty movie theaters. However, now that she was his girlfriend, Christmas Eve was a day and night full of obligations. "I do when you're hosting a QC cocktail party."

"I'll be back in plenty of time." Oliver was grinning and clearly enjoying that his surprise already had her worked up.

She snorted. "Hmph. You say that like you never paid me a salary to come up with excuses for you when you were running late."

"I'm pretty sure I've had to come up with an excuse or two for you too." Dig said as he entered the room carrying two boxes.

"Not helping." Oliver gave Dig his, _please don't gang up on me, man, she's already super angry with me_, face.

Felicity took the top box from Dig and placed it in their new en suite bathroom. She eyed the large soaking tub and couldn't wait to dig out her bubble bath and try it out. "Do you know where he's going?" She asked as she poked her head into the bedroom.

"I do." Dig said with a smirk. "It's a surprise."

She came back into the room with her arms folded across her chest. "Now you're both keeping secrets from me. You do remember the rule that you're both supposed to like me better than you do each other?"

Oliver rubbed his hands on her arms and pulled her hands away from her chest. "I promise. I'm not doing anything connected with the Bratva."

Felicity's eyes darted to Dig. "Do you think I'd seriously let him face the Bratva alone?" He asked defensively.

She tried to take comfort in what Dig said, but Oliver had a way of leaving both of them out of the loop if he was going to do something dangerous and self-sacrificing. "No, but I think he'd tell both of us he was buying me a surprise pony when he was really after Oscar."

Dig smirked. "On that note, I'm going to head out." Turning to Oliver he said, "Have a good trip." He squeezed Felicity's shoulder. "Lyla and I will see you tonight for dinner."

They both watched as Dig left the room and closed the door behind him. "It's not a pony."

"What?" Felicity said as she refocused her attention on him. Thoughts of him confronting Oscar about the counterfeit building materials was almost all she could think about.

"The surprise isn't a pony and you can stop fishing because I'm not telling you."

"Oliver."

He sat down on the foot of the bed and held his hand out to her. She tapped her foot before she relented and joined him. "Felicity. I promise, I'm not leaving town to see Oscar. I'm honestly trying to do something nice for you."

She knew he was telling the truth, but her research had taken her down a rabbit hole and the more she uncovered the unhappier she became. All signs were pointing to Bratva but she hadn't found a direct tie to Oscar, but she thought she was getting close. The scope of the municipal corruption was worse than she'd feared, but she still hadn't shared her findings with Oliver. She wanted to get through the holidays before she sent the man she loved to war. There was no way around it. Oliver needed to eliminate Oscar's grip on Starling City before it got any tighter. "Okay."

Oliver smoothed the crease in her brow. "You don't look okay."

She leaned in and gave him a kiss. "I'm just going to miss you. We haven't spent a night a part since my mom's funeral."

He kissed her slowly. "I still have some time before I have to leave and we have this brand new bed."

"Mmm." Oliver pressed a line of kisses down her throat. "I guess it would be a shame not to test it out." She said breathily.

"I love it when we're on the same page." He said kicking off his shoes as he pulled his t-shirt over his head.

Felicity giggled and pushed him onto his back, straddling his legs. She gave him a quick kiss. "You know you don't need to get me anything extravagant, right?"

He laughed and flipped them so she was on her back. He punctuated each word with a kiss. "I'm - not - falling - into - that - boyfriend - trap."

She pushed on his chest until he looked at her. "I'm serious. All of this," she dropped her arms to spread across the bed, "is more than enough." Her new bedroom suite was more than she could ask for.

"Felicity, I know I don't need to, but I want to." He kissed her.

"In that case," she captured his bottom lip between her teeth and sucked on it before she released him, "can we talk about a pony for my birthday?"

"If it's you asking, I can't say no." Oliver took possession of her bottom lip between his own.

As her brain began to short circuit from what Oliver was doing with his clever mouth and hands, she made a mental note to tell him that she DID NOT want a pony before she ended up with one. "Oh, I'd really like to test the tub before you go too."

VVVVV

The QC party had been a success and Oliver had used his charm to score some new investors. Even with all their work responsibilities they'd managed to have some fun and enjoy each other's company. It had been a long night and they were both eager to get some sleep. Oliver removed Felicity's silver cape and handed it to the maid. His bow tie was loose around his neck and his top two buttons were undone. Felicity grabbed hold of his forearm as she removed her six inch silver heels. "I can't feel my toes anymore."

Oliver winced when he looked at her bright red toes. "I don't know why you insist on wearing them."

Because they're pretty and they make my legs pretty." Felicity shuffled towards the stairs, too exhausted to lift her feet.

Oliver took her hand and spun her around to face him. "You look pretty with or without shoes." He started to lead her towards the living room.

She tugged on his hand. "Oliver let's go to bed. I'm so tired." She suspected that he was even more tired than her due to his whirlwind trip and he wouldn't go to bed unless she did.

"In a minute. I want to give you your present." He looked like the cat who swallowed the canary.

Felicity narrowed her eyes at him in suspicion. "I'm no expert, but I thought Christmas presents were opened on Christmas."

"This one won't keep until morning." He laced his fingers through hers. He opened the living room door and gestured for her to go through.

Sitting on the sofa with their head bowed in laughter were Thea and Roy who were seated on either side of a blonde woman. Roy was practically doubled over he was laughing so hard. Everyone turned at the sound of the door closing. "Aunt Rosie?" Felicity dropped her shoes and clutch as she moved around the sofa. "What are you doing here?"

"Hello sweetheart." Rosie pulled Felicity into an embrace. "Oliver thought that the best present for a Jew on Christmas would be another Jew."

Felicity burst out laughing. "I knew it was a mistake introducing you two."

Rosie squeezed Roy's cheek. "Felicity, you never told me that Starling was full of such handsome men. A man named John picked us up at the airport. I swear, he had arms the size of cannon balls." Rosie brought her hands up to illustrate how big she thought John's arms were. Felicity laughed when both Oliver and Roy rolled their eyes. Dig's arms and their size were a sore point on the team for the two men whose arms were not the size of cannon balls.

"Were you surprised?" Thea asked. "Ollie's been agonizing over keeping this secret."

Roy laughed. "I think Thea has been the one agonizing over keeping this secret."

Felicity kept her aunt close with an arm around her waist. "You all knew about this?"

Rosie wiped a few tears from Felicity's cheeks. "Don't cry, you'll make me cry and it isn't easy for me to look this good this late at night."

Felicity started laughing again. "They're happy tears. I'm so happy you're here." She pulled her aunt into another hug.

"I think you should thank Oliver, it was all his idea." Rosie said grinning at her co-conspirator.

Felicity threw her arms around Oliver's neck and placed a kiss on his cheek. "Thank you. This is the best present ever. Even better than the server."

"Please, someone write down the date and time. Felicity says I rank higher than a server." Rosie teased.

Oliver tightened his embrace and a laugh rumbled through his chest. "You're welcome. I'm glad it made you happy."

"Who wants a drink?" The asked.

"I'd love another cup of tea, dear." Rosie reached for her mug on the coffee table.

Felicity's eyes tracked her movement and then opened wide in horror. Sitting on the coffee table was a pink photo album filled with her most embarrassing childhood moments. It was bad enough Oliver had seen the album when they visited Rosie in Vegas, she didn't need Roy having any ammunition against her. With a gasp, she lunged for the album, but not before Roy and his Oliver honed reflexes snatched it from the table. "I can't believe you brought that here."

"Oh, I insisted." Oliver had a wicked glint in his eyes.

"Blondie, I have to say, you totally rocked the nose ring. I think you should start wearing it again." Roy and Thea started laughing. Thea left the room with Rosie's mug, dodging throw pillows launched by Felicity.

Felicity began to chase Roy around the coffee table. "Roy Harper. Hand me that album or so help me, I will end you."

"Oh, Felicity, show some Christmas spirit." Rosie returned to her place on the sofa. "I was telling Roy and Thea that maybe tomorrow we could watch your first grade ballet recital."

Felicity groaned at the memory of that recital. She'd worn a bright pink tutu and her hair was a frizzy brown halo as her curls fought against the confines of a bun. Felicity had protested the performance by sitting on the stage with her arms folded across her chest, glaring at her aunt in the front row. At one point she had laid down and her feet started moving side to side as she made elaborate arm gestures. The audience spent the whole performance in hysterics. "Please tell me you're kidding."

"I promised Oliver when you visited over the summer. Plus, it's my all time favorite performance of yours." Rosie held out her hands to Roy who returned the album to her with a sweeping bow.

"You're supposed to be on my side." Felicity reminded Oliver.

"Always, except when it comes to dance recital videos. I'm sorry, but I'm watching every video she brought with her and then I'm making copies." He kissed her on the cheek and whispered in her ear. "How many times did I catch you watching the old video of the model slapping me?"

Thea returned with tea for Rosie. "Come on Harper, time for bed."

Oliver glared at Roy who quickly lost the smile from his face. "I think I liked it better when the two of you snuck around behind my back."

"Please big brother," Thea winked at Felicity, "I don't see a ring on her finger."

"Thea." Oliver and Felicity shouted together. Thea and Roy left hand in hand as Thea plastered a wet sloppy kiss on Roy.

Oliver scrunched up his nose which would have made her laugh if she wasn't too busy turning six shades of red in front of her aunt. "Aunt Rosie, I know I didn't tell you that Oliver and I are living together now, but - surprise."

"Child, if you weren't taking full advantage of that delicious man, I'd think there's something wrong with you. I can't believe you let him out of your bed to come get me." Rosie sipped her tea knowingly.

"Aunt Rosie," Felicity admonished. She wasn't sure who was blushing more, her or Oliver.

"Felicity, I might be older but I'm not dead. I've had sex and plenty of it." Rosie had spent more than twenty years as a Vegas showgirl and almost another thirty as a choreographer, so there wasn't much that made her blush, but she had plenty of ammunition to tease Felicity with and got no end of enjoyment in making the young blonde turn red.

"Oh God, this isn't happening." Felicity dropped onto the sofa, her head in her hands.

"Really, I don't know why you're such a prude about these things. You're young and beautiful. You should be enjoying yourself."

"I'm not a prude. I'd just rather not talk about my sex life with my aunt in front of my boyfriend."

"Oh good, you do have a sex life." Her aunt teased. "Why wouldn't you want to talk about it in front of him? He is the one you're having sex with, right?"

Oliver joined them on the sofa and took one of Felicity's hands. "I think you should stop teasing her before she blushes to death."

"What should I tell her first? That we're madly in love and running away together or give her our other surprise?"

"Another surprise?" Felicity eyed the two of them and decided they looked entirely too pleased with themselves. "Please, go run away together. You deserve each other."

"I've moved to Starling City." Her aunt stated with a glint in her eye.

"What?" Felicity was shocked. "You're going to leave Vegas?"

"Leaving? No, honey, I left. The movers came for my stuff yesterday. Oliver treated me to a lovely night on the town and put me up at the Bellagio and then he flew me here on a private jet. It's been quite the adventure."

Felicity was stunned. She'd been trying to get her aunt to move to Starling from almost the moment she moved to town. Her aunt steadfastly refused stating that she wouldn't leave her husband and daughter. Her aunt visited their graves weekly. "When did all this happen?"

"After your visit, I told Oliver I wanted to move closer to you. After what happened with your mother, I realized how close I'd come to losing you. You're my only family and I'd like to see you more often."

"Are you moving in here?" Felicity was still trying to process the news.

"I love you, darling, but living with you would seriously cramp my style." Rosie winked at Oliver.

"Where?" Felicity stammered.

"Your place." Oliver volunteered. "You were planning on selling it, so we figured"

"Two birds, one stone." Rosie finished.

Felicity hugged her aunt. "I'm so happy you're here. I've missed you so much." Felicity began to cry. Rosie rubbed soothing circles onto Felicity's back with one hand and reached for Oliver's hand with her other. Oliver smiled warmly and squeezed the woman's hand. "But, we're not watching those videos."

Rosie lifted Felicity's chin. "Okay, I won't let anyone see the videos unless you say so."

Less than an hour later, Oliver was rubbing circles across her bare back. "You're really okay with all of this? I know it was a lot to do without asking you first."

She rested her chin on his chest and looked up at him. "I feel guilty that I gave you such a hard time yesterday."

Oliver grinned. "I'll put that in the bank for the next time I do something to upset you."

"You know, you could just actually stop doing the things that upset me, like being late and jumping off or roofs and getting injured."

"Now, where would the fun be in that?"

"Hmm," she rested her ear over his heart. "That explains so much." Where she was filled with abject terror as they zip lined between buildings, he was having fun. Oliver saw being the Arrow as a responsibility, but he wouldn't do it unless he also enjoyed it.

"Neither would you." He kissed the top of her head.

"What?" She asked through a yawn.

"You wouldn't spend your nights with me if you didn't enjoy it too." He said softly.

She chuckled at his unintentional innuendo. He was right, of course. She did love how they spent their nights together, fighting side by side to keep Starling safe. She bit her lip as she thought about how they privately celebrated Christmas Eve. "I enjoyed it quite a bit."

"Miss Smoak, get your mind out of the gutter. I was referring to our platonic night time activities."

"I guess I enjoy that too, but I think I enjoy our non-platonic activities more, Mr. Queen."

He tightened his embrace and kissed the top of her head. "Me too."

VVVVV

Felicity blew onto her fingers in an attempt to regain some feeling. She was huddled in the back of the van waiting for Dig to come get her for a lovely stroll in the sewer. Technically, it wasn't the sewer but a tunnel that contained power lines and fiber-optic cables. She was insisting on calling it a sewer because she was protesting that it was New Year's Eve and instead of spending it in a sparkly gown with her tuxedo clad boyfriend, she was being led into the bowels of the earth to do a job that could so wait for another night. She jumped a little when Dig opened the back door and held his hand out to her. She silently slid her hand into his and followed him out of the alley the van was parked in. A man hole cover was open and had a little fence around it with flashing orange lights. Diggle handed her a hard hat and she glared at him. It had taken her over an hour to get the curls in her hair just right and she had no intention of ruining it with hard hat hair. She and Oliver were going to be kissing at midnight at the QC sponsored gala if she had to drag his ass there clad in leather. This was their first New Year's Eve as a couple and she wasn't ringing in the new year without him. Dig took the hat from her and plopped it onto her head and tapped the top of it for good measure. Just for that, she was going to be ordering vegetarian meals for the whole month of January. He'll learn to think twice about messing up her hair after thirty days of beluga lentils.

Felicity followed Dig down the ladder and removed her tablet from her bag once they'd reached the bottom. She studied her screen for a moment and then gestured for Dig to raise his flashlight down the tunnel. She turned her comm on. "Arrow, are you in position?"

"Affirmative." Oliver's voice was distorted.

To Dig she said, "Wait here, there won't be room for both of us." Dig looked anxious as he scanned the darkened tunnel. "It's just thirty feet away. These tunnels weren't made for 6'4" vigilantes. I should've brought Arsenal."

"Hey." Roy groused in her ear. "I resemble that remark."

"Standby." Felicity edged her way down the narrow corridor. Her flashlight sweeping back and forth as she read the numbers along the ceiling as she looked for the location marker of their target. She was about to cut the power to a block of high rise office buildings at the center of downtown. Her New Year's celebration was being cut short because with the holiday, the buildings should all be vacant with skeletal security crews, which would make their jobs easier. Their target was the Starling based national construction firm, Ketchel. Felicity had her suspicions that someone high up in the firm was dirty and was working with Oscar to distribute the counterfeit building materials. Oliver and Roy were waiting on the rooftop of a neighboring building until Felicity cut the power. Once the power was cut, they would have fifteen minutes to access the executive floor and plant taps on phones, bugs in conference rooms and a remote access port in the server room. It would take at least twenty minutes for the first repair crews to respond from the power company. They wanted to be well clear of the location when anyone showed up. While Oliver and Roy were planting all of her toys, Felicity would be hacking into their back-up generator to prevent both the security system from working and to force the company's servers to go down, which would cause their IT team to reboot the system and give her the best way to get her foot in the door, so to speak. It was amazing how many companies protected the computer systems that contained confidential corporate information, but had zero protection around the computer systems that ran their elevators, heating, ventilation and cooling systems. She was already inside Ketchel's heating system, she just needed to wait for the second before she cut the power to jump to the generator's system. She found the series of numbers she was looking for and double checked her tablet to make sure that she had the right numbers. She confirmed that the executive elevator was still in the basement and that it's shaft would be able to provide Oliver and Roy their escape route. She attached a series of cables from her tablet to the power grid in front of her and started the clock. "In five - four - three - two - one."

"Power's out." Oliver said. She could hear the sound of the zip line being deployed and the rush of wind as he flew between the buildings."

"Fourteen minutes thirty eight seconds." Felicity said when she heard Oliver's feet skitter across the asphalt of the rooftop.

"We're in." Roy spoke softly and she could hear the soft footfall of their leather boots against concrete stairs.

Felicity monitored her program to make sure the generator did not engage. "Thirteen minutes."

"I'm in the server room." Oliver reported. Felicity held her breath as she listened to Oliver's feet echo in the eerily quiet room. She really should be the one deploying the tech, but they'd promised Lance no more risky field work and Oliver said he could follow her instructions enough to plug something in. "Got it. Patch deployed. Meeting up with Arsenal."

"Eleven minutes." Her fingers itched as she watched the clock count down.

"Songbirds deployed in location one. Moving onto location two." Roy's voice was no more than a whisper in her ear.

"Nine minutes."

"Songbirds deployed in location three. Moving onto location four." Oliver whispered. His voice modulator turned off.

"Seven minutes. You need to be to the elevator shaft in no more than three minutes."

"Roger that." Roy said. "Location two completed, moving onto location five."

"Four completed. Moving onto number six." Felicity could hear Oliver running down a corridor. His footfall echoed and she could picture a marble hallway, not unlike QC.

Felicity muted her comm and called down the tunnel to Dig. "Okay to start cleaning up. They're two minutes from egress and four from rendezvous." Dig was going to bring the van around and park it practically on top of the manhole.

"See you topside." Dig said. Felicity could hear him climbing the ladder.

"Damn it." Roy muttered. "The device for over the conference table isn't working."

"It was working at home."

"I know that Blondie, I was there, but it isn't working now."

"I have the extra. I'm on my way," Oliver said. "Six complete."

"Show off." Roy complained.

"Five minutes. You're almost out of time." Felicity anxiously watched the clock.

"You sound worried. I can make a lot happen in a short amount of time." Oliver teased.

"I so didn't need to know that." Felicity could practically see Roy's eyes roll. She heard Oliver enter the conference room and an economy of words as they deployed the last bug.

"I'm at the van. On my way." Dig reported.

"All set." Roy said.

"Four minutes." Felicity said tightly. "You're out of time."

"South elevator. We're there." Felicity could hear the sound of the elevator doors opening. "Arsenal's going first." She heard the sound of a rappelling arrow deploying. "What color is your dress?"

"What?" Felicity asked.

"What color is your dress?"

"Are you trying to distract me?"

"You sound anxious."

"Three minutes."

"Arsenal's reached the garage. My turn. We'll be radio silent until we're back on the street. I hope you brought your dancing shoes." The sound of the elevator doors closing introduced static as the comm lost its signal.

Felicity rearranged herself so it would be easy for her to slip her tablet into her bag and head back out of the tunnel. Her counter fell just under sixty seconds when her head whipped towards the ladder. She could hear the sound of metal dragging across asphalt. "Dig? Is that you?"

Dig's voice answered immediately through the comm in her ear. "Felicity, I'm getting,"

Before he could finish, the manhole cover was pushed back into place and cut off her communication. "Dig." She cried. The tunnel hadn't gotten any darker than it was the moment before, but she suddenly felt like the walls were closing in around her and she couldn't breathe. Her tablet became blurry and she had trouble focusing on what she was supposed to be doing. A beeping noise cut through the sound of the blood rushing in her ears and she remembered she needed to turn the power back on. The reminder of her task forced her panic away and she was able to think again. As the clock reached zero, she disconnected her tablet from the grid. She looked up, half expecting to see the block of buildings illuminate. She walked the length of the tunnel and returned to the ladder. She stood directly beneath the manhole cover and wondered what had gone wrong that Dig had been forced to close her in. Someone must've been coming and he was forced to improvise. She just needed to be patient. It wasn't like he'd forget where he left her. She leaned against the ladder and wished she'd thought to pack a snack. She hadn't had dinner because she was looking forward to the finger food at the gala. The dinners at these things were always terrible, but the appetizers were always fantastic. One of the benefits of dating Oliver was that all of the QC events were always nut free. She never had to worry about putting nuts into her mouth at these things. _Gagh, even alone in my own mind I think of the worst ways to say things. At least Oliver wasn't here to hear that. _She pulled out her tablet to check the time. They should be picking up Oliver and Roy at the rendezvous now. Maybe Dig went for them first. It wasn't like she was going anywhere. She didn't envy Dig having to tell Oliver that he'd sealed her in a tunnel. She immediately wished she hadn't thought about being sealed in a tunnel. She suddenly couldn't get enough air into her lungs. She bent over at the waist in an attempt to get control of herself. She reminded herself the tunnel wasn't vacuum sealed and the manhole cover had three holes, so some air was coming in. The sound of groaning metal had her looking up. A sliver of light cut through the darkness. "Thank god, Dig?" She had already begun to climb the ladder.

"Felicity. Quickly." A voice shouted down.

She paused with one foot and hand off the ladder's rungs. "Dig? Is that you?"

"No. I'm a friend."

She stood with one foot and hand on the ladder as she debated what she should do. She couldn't just go back into the tunnel and hide, but anyone could be waiting up there for her. One of the Arrow's enemies could've seen his chance to exact revenge through her. If it was one of the Arrow's enemies, that meant Dig could be hurt or worse. She pulled the heavy flashlight from her bag and resumed her climb awkwardly. As she reached the top of the ladder a leather hand encircled hers and pulled her free from the hole. She pulled her hand with the flashlight back and was about to swing it, when the man holding her other hand turned. It was the man without the face and her surprise kept her from bringing the flashlight down onto his head. "I'm not going to hurt you, Felicity." His voice was gravelly and was clearly being put through some type of modulator.

Felicity dropped her hand with the flashlight to her side. Those words had been spoken to her before. Of course, when Oliver had said them, he'd had a mouth and lips. "How do you know my name?"

"We've got to move." He tugged her behind him as he broke into a run. She resisted for a second before she heard police sirens approaching. He slowed to a walk and lowered his hat on his brow and put a casual arm around her shoulder, tucking her into his side. He smelled faintly of chemicals and cigarettes. After the police car sped by, he released her. "Your driver was pulled over. I had to act quickly or you'd have been discovered by another patrol car. I'm sorry I closed you in back there."

Felicity pulled out her cell and hit two on her speed dial. Dig picked up on the first ring. "Where are you?"

"A cop pulled me over."

"I take it you weren't arrested if you're talking to me."

"I told the cop that I'm your body guard and you forgot your clothes for tonight at the office. I was on my way to deliver the clothes to you. I had to use the whole, Captain Lance is a personal friend of mine card."

Lance was probably thrilled to get that phone call. She wondered when she'd get a phone call from him with his lecture on the definition of low profile. "Did you pick up our other two packages?"

"I've got them. The green package is super grumpy. He'd say hi, but he's trying to get into his tux."

She smiled at what had to be an understatement about Oliver's mood. "Well, I'd appreciate it if you picked me up where you left me."

"We're on our way. I'm a block away."

Felicity breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the van. "I see you." She hung up the phone and turned to face the man without the face. "I guess I should thank you. What should I call you?"

"That's the million dollar question."

"I don't have a million dollars."

"Well, I guess my name will remain an unanswered question."

"In that case, thank you, Question."

"You're welcome."

"Why don't you have a face? I mean you must have a face under there because you're talking, so you must have lips and a tongue. Not that I'm thinking about your lips and tongue."

"I'm too pretty without my mask. I don't want the beautiful women I rescue to fall in love with me." Even with the voice modulator she could tell that he was teasing.

She laughed. "That must be a terrible burden for you." Felicity began walking backwards across the street to meet the approaching van. "What are you doing? Why did you help me?"

"I'm looking for the truth too." He started to back away from the street. "Felicity, be careful. You're looking in the wrong place. Ketchel isn't the problem."

"Who should I be looking at?" The van pulled up alongside her.

"Follow the money." He took another step backward and was lost to the shadows.

Thirty minutes later, Felicity and Oliver sauntered into the Grand Ballroom of the Starling City Regency Hotel. They were only an hour late to their own party. Tonight's gala was to raise funds for the rebuilding efforts in the Glades and for Oliver and Thea to announce the formation of their new charitable foundation. Felicity felt like every eye in the room was on them and smirking. She took in Oliver's appearance and sighed at his slightly rumpled appearance. Getting dressed in the back of their panel van was not conducive to maintaining a look of sophisticated elegance. "Please tell me I'm not as wrinkled as you." She whispered through the fake smile plastered to her face. "Everyone's going to think you've been ravishing me in the cloak room."

"Better that than what we were really doing." Oliver winked at her. He pulled her onto the dance floor and twirled her into his arms. "Although, I'm always more than happy to ravish you. Would you like to join me in the cloak room?"

Felicity rolled her eyes. "That's not happening, so just put it out of your mind."

Oliver laughed and pulled her tightly against his chest. "I will forget about the cloak room, but I have plans for ringing in the New Year with you that I have no intention of forgetting."

Felicity noticed Oliver's new executive assistant, Gerry frantically searching the crowd for his boss. She made eye contact with Gerry and saw him look instantly relieved. She honestly felt sorry for the poor guy. She had a hard time wrangling Oliver when she was his assistant and she knew how he spent his nights. She was starting to worry that working for Oliver would give this kid a nervous breakdown too. According to Peggy, Mrs. Worth had quit because she thought that Oliver's inability to be on time or to answer his cell when she called was giving her heart palpitations. Felicity sent her a generous check and a week at a luxury spa from Oliver as a Christmas gift and a thank you for her service. "Gerry is waving us over. It must be time."

Oliver groaned, but took her hand and led her over to where Gerry was waiting. "Remind me again, why I wanted to be CEO."

"I'm pretty sure it was the billions of dollars." She nodded and smiled at one of the wives of a senior executive.

She couldn't help the giggle that burst out of her when Olive stumbled. He recovered quickly, but not before he shot her his best Arrow glare. "Nice."

Thea joined Oliver on stage and they both beamed their megawatt Queen smiles and charmed the crowd. Felicity drifted to the back of the room so she could grab a glass of wine from the open bar. She had taken her first sip of Cabernet Sauvignon when a familiar voice said, "My dad says you've had an eventful night."

Felicity rolled her eyes and took another sip of wine. "Nothing ever goes smoothly when you need it to."

Laurel smiled. "Ollie's doing a good job up there."

"Charm is something he has in abundance." As if on cue, the crowd laughed at a little joke he was telling about Thea.

"Don't I know it." Laurel said sadly.

Felicity and Laurel moved to a high top table so Felicity could eat some appetizers as they listened to the rest of Oliver's speech. When they left the stage to warm applause, Oliver and Thea were immediately surrounded by people eager to shake their hands. "What a difference six months makes." Felicity said with relief.

"Neither of them deserved what they got from the press and their so called society friends." Laurel said bitterly. "You definitely learn who your friends are when you hit rock bottom." Laurel squeezed Felicity's hands. "They're lucky to have you."

Felicity smiled in thanks and popped a dumpling into her mouth. A red head in a long black gown was kissing Oliver on the cheek. She could see his jaw tense even as he smiled and kissed the woman's cheek in return. "Do you know who that woman is?"

Laurel looked and her face fell. "Amy Abbott. I'd keep an eye out on her if I were you."

"Why's that?" Felicity watched as Oliver and Amy took to the dance floor. Amy moved to put her arms around his neck and he suavely took hold of one of her hands and spun her away from him. When he spun her back, he placed her hands in a much more chaste position. "Never mind, I think I'm getting the idea."

"Let's just say that ten years ago, she wasn't overly concerned that Oliver already had a girlfriend."

"Oh." Felicity said as she watched the pair dance. She knew that Oliver hadn't been a good guy before the Gambit, but seeing the living proof in front of her and the pained expression on Laurel's face was a little too much reality. "I honestly don't know how you didn't cut off his penis in his sleep." Laurel started choking on her tonic water and Felicity started to pat her back.

"Trust me. I was tempted." Laurel looked at Felicity out of the corner of her eye and they both broke into laughter. Felicity's gaze returned to Oliver and Amy. "Don't worry. He's not the same guy anymore."

"He's not the one I'm worried about." Felicity watched as a photographer snapped a picture. That was going to be a fun headline to read in the morning. Thea appeared out of nowhere and cut in between Oliver and Amy. Felicity owed the younger Queen a huge hug. A smile of relief spread across Oliver's face and he effortlessly spun them around the floor. The siblings looked happy and carefree. Laurel momentarily rested her head against Felicity's shoulder as they watched them dance. Felicity said a prayer into the universe that the New Year would treat them all kindly.

**Notes: Thank you for reading. Your feedback is always welcomed.**

**Up Next: Ringing in the New Year.**


	4. January

**Notes: My most sincerest apologies for the time lapse since my last update. I've been sick, had a leaking roof that flooded my kitchen and basement, had to travel for work and most recently, snow falling from my roof took out my cable and internet connection. This winter has been kicking my butt.**

**Thank you for all the comments and kudos for the last chapter. Without further ado, let's get back to it.**

**The Arrow characters and universe do not belong to me.**

Felicity was awoken to Oliver poking her shoulder. "Your boyfriend is interviewing Helena Bertenelli. It's going to be a series"

Felicity blinked her eyes and tried to focus on the tablet Oliver had propped beside her head. Without her glasses it was just a blur. She groped along the nightstand for her frames, not terribly excited to see whatever had Oliver's New Year off to a grumpy start. "I didn't realize you changed your career to journalism."

Oliver helped her to sit up and thrust the tablet into her lap. "You know what I mean."

Felicity studied the tablet and wished that they could go for a few days without another unwelcome complication. It didn't take more than a sentence to realize what had Oliver so upset. Channel 52 was going to air an interview Vic conducted with Helena over five nights. The article promised that Helena would be revealing secrets about the mob, her thoughts on revenge and vigilantism. "Technically, my perfectly sane ex-boyfriend is interviewing your psycho ex-girlfriend."

"This isn't funny." Oliver's brow was creased. "She could reveal my identity on television."

"Maybe, I can ask Sara to go kick her ass." Felicity fell back against her pillow. Talking about their exes was not how she wanted to spend the first day of the new year.

Oliver flopped onto his side with his head propped up by his bent arm. "Felicity," he growled.

"I don't know what you want me to say. You're the one who told her who you are. You're the one who had sex with her." Felicity sounded angrier than she really was. She'd never been jealous of Helena, mostly because she was several pixels short of a picture. Oliver had been with Helena before Felicity had even joined Oliver's crusade. When Helena resurfaced, Felicity was too busy looking for Walter to worry about who Oliver was sleeping with. Aside from being tied up by Helena, she and Dig had always enjoyed ribbing Oliver about her.

Oliver looked hurt and a little surprised. "Do we need to talk about this?"

"About what?"

"About Helena, Isabel, McKenna, Shado, Sara, Laurel."

"Oh my God, please don't list every woman you ever slept with." Felicity sat up. "I know you have an extensive past, but it will really help me sleep at night if I never think about it."

"I don't want this, my past, to be a problem for us. If we need to talk about it, let's talk about it."

"Oliver, please." She closed her eyes and hoped when she opened them this conversation would've been a dream. When she opened them again, Oliver was still looking at her. "We were out late. I haven't had my coffee and my brain to mouth filter has yet to engage. What I meant to say was, Helena hasn't outed you yet, not even for a reduced sentence, so I don't think she will now. I think she'll continue to protect you - honor amongst thieves and all that." Felicity scrambled out of bed and hurried to the bathroom, eager to end their conversation.

Oliver followed her and watched her brush her teeth from the doorway. Felicity looked everywhere but at his reflection in the mirror. A soggy towel was on the counter, but there wasn't any sign of steam, which meant he'd been up for hours, waiting for her to wake up so they could talk about Vic and Helena. "Is this about last night?"

Felicity's eyes locked onto his in the mirror. She rinsed her mouth and pulled her hair into a messy ponytail. "I don't want to talk about this anymore. I don't want to fight with you."

"We fight all the time." Oliver said in an attempt to lighten her mood.

"About work. About strategy. About you taking crazy chances. Never about personal stuff." Felicity ducked under his arm to return to their bedroom.

"Felicity, we're going to have fights." He was leaning against the wall, his sleep pants slung low across his hips. His hair had dried from his shower and was sticking up in tufts. He looked sexy and that only made her angrier.

"I don't want to fight with you." Felicity disappeared into their walk-in closet and started to open and close drawers at random.

"Does this mean I get my way for the rest of our lives?" Oliver teased. He'd followed her into the closet and seemed to be amused.

This made Felicity pause. It wasn't realistic to think that she could avoid every argument with Oliver. He was pretty infuriating, at times. It probably wasn't very healthy to avoid confrontations either. She looked up at him. "My parents fought all the time. Then he left. I don't want that."

Oliver was immediately in front of her and pulled Felicity into his arms. "Hey, I'm not going to leave if we fight and we aren't your parents or mine, we're us. You have to talk to me when I've done something to upset you. If you keep holding it inside, one day it will be too much and you'll leave me." He kissed the top of her head. "You can tell me anything. I can't promise that I won't ever get mad, but I can promise that I won't ever leave."

"It's not about you. I'm mad at myself." Felicity buried her head against his chest. Oliver pulled back and tilted his head. She gave him a wan smile and held up her thumb and forefinger. "Okay, maybe I'm a little mad at you."

"So, Amy Abbott." Oliver said gently.

Felicity pulled out of his arms and folded her own across her chest. She'd done her research on Amy Abbott after Oliver went to sleep. Amy and Oliver had crossed paths during his brief time at Harvard. While he was majoring in flunking out, she was making a name for herself at the Kennedy School of Government. She graduated with honors and then went on to obtain her MBA at Yale. Upon graduation, she joined the State Department and was now attached to the American Embassy in Moscow. She was in town because the Moscow Ballet was launching their American tour in Starling. If Felicity had hoped to learn that the elegant and graceful brunette was a bimbo, she'd been disheartened to uncover her resume. To top it all off, she was internationally ranked in dressage. The redhead couldn't be any more of a socialite cliché if she tried. Amy Abbott wasn't a woman to be dismissed. She was accomplished and intelligent and Felicity hated her a little bit for it. From her limited observation she knew that the woman never tripped over her tongue and said the wrong thing to the wrong people. Unlike Felicity, Amy belonged at charitable fundraising galas dressed in designer ball gowns while chatting with the social, political and financial elite.

Felicity didn't know how to explain to Oliver how all her of her own accomplishments and self-worth seemed to fly out the window when one of his ex-girlfriends or one of Moira's former lunch companions looked down their noses at her like she just crawled from the sewer. Oliver never made her feel like that, but there were times when her mother's last words to her haunted her from the grave. She was an imposter and everyone seemed to know it but Oliver. Since she moved into the mansion, the tabloids had ramped up their cruelty. They were currently running a ticker of the number of days Oliver had been faithful on the top of the society pages. According to the QC publicists, the tabloids were even offering top dollars to any woman who could provide hard proof that Oliver had cheated on her. So much for maintaining the low profile they promised Captain Lance. All of these thoughts scurried around her head until she finally looked at him. His face was full of love and concern and she knew her fears were unwarranted. So, instead of allowing the demons her mom had been planting in her head since childhood give voice to all of her insecurities, she just said, "Harvard."

Oliver narrowed his eyes like he was trying to will her to say more. "Yes, we dated for a few months at Harvard."

"Did you love her?"

"No. We partied together. I got kicked out of school. That was it." She believed him, but Amy had implied there'd been a lot more to their relationship when she'd introduced herself to Felicity when Oliver had stepped away to speak with an investor. "Felicity, she wasn't a very nice person, but she didn't complain that I was drunk or high all the time or that I had a girlfriend back home. She enjoyed the perks that came with my name and when being Oliver Queen wasn't enough, my bank account more than made up for it. We used one another. It definitely wasn't love. Hell, I don't think either of us even liked one another."

He looked ashamed and Felicity felt terrible for making him talk about it. It was in these moments when his past made him question whether he deserved better than one night stands with random women and she didn't want him to start to question whether he deserved to be happy in a relationship with her. She needed to accept that he had a past and women were going to inevitably come out of the woodwork from time to time. She needed to keep reminding herself that she was the woman he loved now and the rest didn't matter. "Okay."

"Felicity, you know that the tabloids are never going to catch me cheating, right? I'm never going to cheat on you." She looked down at her feet. "Please, look at me and tell me you know that."

She did as he requested. "Yes, I know that. Besides, you don't have the time for an affair."

"Don't. Don't joke, not about this. I'm not going to cheat on you. I wouldn't do that to you or to us. I don't want to be with anyone else. Please." Oliver's voice was heavy with emotion as he lifted her chin.

"I trust you with my life."

"I know, but the real question is, do you trust me with your heart?"

The answer was simple. "Yes."

His shoulders sagged in relief. "I'm sorry if I acted weird last night and made you feel badly. I don't like it when you're reminded of Ollie because you wouldn't have given him the time of day. I did a lot of incredibly stupid and selfish things back then that I can't undo. I wish that I could. I wish I was someone you could be proud of."

She rushed towards him and grabbed his face between her hands to lower his eyes to hers. "I am proud of you. I'm proud of the man you are today. Don't ever doubt that."

"But,"

"I don't care about the rest. I really, really, really, don't. I woke up on the wrong side of the bed and let everything get away from me. I didn't want to spend today like this. I wish we could do this morning over." Oliver's face became determined and she let out a small shriek when he lifted her into his arms in a bridal carry. "Oliver, what are you doing?"

He silently returned them to their bedroom and laid her back on the bed. He pulled the covers up to her chin, removed her ponytail elastic and returned her glasses to the nightstand. He then climbed onto his side of the bed and pulled the covers over himself. He rolled over to face her and ran his hand over her eyes and whispered, "Close your eyes." When she did, he ran a finger down her cheek and placed a soft kiss on her lips. "Good morning." She opened her eyes. "Happy New Year, Felicity." He kissed her again.

She couldn't help but smile at him. Everyone saw different sides of him and she knew that she was the only one lucky enough to see all of him. As dangerous and charming as he was, at heart, he was an endearing goofball who did his best to make sure she knew that she was loved. She caressed his face and he kissed her palm. "Happy New Year, Oliver." They kissed slowly knowing that they had a lazy day ahead of them and were in no hurry to get out of bed. He began to nuzzle her neck. "I love you."

He looked at her and smiled. "I love you." She kissed him and they finally started the New Year the way she'd always planned.

VVVVV

Sometimes Felicity wondered when her life had become surreal. It probably started when she found a green-hooded Oliver Queen bleeding out on her backseat from a gunshot he'd received from his own mother. From that moment she could draw a line, albeit a curvy one that double backed on itself, to sitting in the breakfast room eating a leisurely breakfast with Oliver, Thea and Roy. As if living in a home that had something called a breakfast room wasn't crazy enough, they also had a cook who'd prepared them each a breakfast to order. Surreal didn't even come close to describing her life.

Oliver sat next to Felicity lost in whatever report he was reading from the head of QC's finance group. Roy appeared to be playing some type of game on his phone and Thea was reading something on hers. Felicity's tablet lay on the table but she hadn't opened it yet. She sat staring at her dining companions and realized that no one had said a word to one another in fifteen minutes. "Oliver is getting me a pony."

"Mmm." Oliver dropped a hand to her knee and traced a lazy circle.

"That's nice." Thea said without looking up from her phone.

Only Roy looked up and gave her a questioning look. "What are you going to do with a pony?"

Roy's question finally got the Queen siblings to look up from their electronic devices. "Who's getting a pony?" Thea asked.

"Oliver is getting Felicity a pony." Roy informed the siblings.

Oliver grinned and leaned into Felicity. "Is this your way of telling me you'd like some attention?"

"I don't see the point of us all sitting together if we're not going to speak to one another."

Roy leaned across the table and in a stage whisper told Felicity, "I think that rich, repressed, white people aren't supposed to talk to one another while they eat. It interferes with their digestion."

Felicity brought a hand to her mouth to suppress the giggle that was threatening to burst forth at the sight of Oliver's jaw twitching. Thea playfully swatted Roy's arm. "Who's repressed?"

Oliver pointed across the table at Thea and Roy. "Neither of you better answer that question."

Felicity couldn't help but laugh. "Yes, for the sake of Oliver's digestion let's all agree that we're all repressed." Oliver gave her a look and was about to speak when he just shook his head and returned to his report.

"Oh no," Thea gasped and her eyes darted from her phone to Felicity.

"What?" Felicity swallowed heavily as she tentatively reached for her own tablet.

"The good news is that the tabloids aren't calling you a gold digger today." Thea said with false cheer and passed her phone to Roy who gave a worried look to Oliver before he put it down on the table.

Felicity opened her tablet and immediately saw the media alerts. She tapped on the application and gasped when she saw the headline. "Oh, God." The headline was _Queen's Smoaking Booty_. The article then went on to describe her bottom with adjectives like, round, tight, high, firm, luscious and spankable. The article was accompanied by ten photos of just her bottom in evening gowns, jeans, skirts and work dresses. Readers were being asked to vote on the outfit her butt looked the best in. Against her better judgment she scrolled to the comments section only to find out what the public thought about her butt and what they'd like to do to it. One graphic comment had her wishing she could scrub the image from her brain.

"What?" Oliver asked, a line of concern furrowing his brow.

"It's noth..." Felicity didn't finish her sentence because Oliver tilted his head and pointed a finger at her. "Oliver, really, it's just the tabloids looking for a new angle to sell papers."

Roy snorted. "New angle."

"Really?" Felicity and Thea asked him at the same time.

Oliver held out his hand for her tablet and she reluctantly placed it into his hand. She braced herself for his inevitable explosion. He read the article with a blank expression on his face. "That one's not you." He pushed the tablet and pointed to a picture of an orange dress.

"You know my butt that well that you're certain that isn't mine?" Felicity asked as she stared at the picture. "I'm not sure it isn't mine."

Oliver raised a brow at her. "Felicity, do you own that dress? I don't remember ever seeing you in it."

He was right. She didn't own the dress in the photo. "That's not my butt."

"Good, I'll call our publicist and tell her to demand they print a retraction and pull down the page since they don't even have the integrity to publish pictures of you." Oliver pulled out his cell.

Felicity placed her hand on his. "Oliver, I don't think that's a good idea. If we make a big deal of it, they'll only have incentive to do more pictures of my butt or breasts or legs. Let them have their fun." She squeezed his hand and tried to make him smile. She returned her attention to the article. "I will be really pissed if the picture of the orange dress wins."

"Felicity," he rubbed his hands over his head, "I hate this."

She leaned in and kissed his cheek. "I know and I love you for it. Besides, Thea is right. Stories about my butt are better than the one's about me being a gold digger." Oliver dropped his head and she could tell he wasn't entirely convinced.

VVVVV

The sound of the guys sparring had become white noise to Felicity as she went through the results of her search on Kechel Construction's servers. The Question had been right, the hack of their computers and the surveillance of their offices and conference rooms hadn't provided any evidence. She'd also run into a dead end with the offshore accounts of the Starling City public officials. It appears that the deposits were all made in cash in the Cayman Islands. She'd attempted to hack into the bank's security cameras, but the bank didn't store any footage for more than a week. She was starting to look into flight manifests to see if she could find any passengers that arrived in the Cayman's each time there was a deposit in one of the accounts. So far, it had been an exercise in futility. For all she knew, the person making the deposits lived in the Cayman's and was just shifting money around on Oscar's behalf. She was frustrated and so were the guys. They couldn't take out the bad guys if she couldn't identify them. Her computer beeped. "Damn it." She pushed herself away from her desk in anger.

The quiet in the lair had her turning in her chair. All three of the guys were standing on the mats looking at her with concern. "Everything okay?" Oliver asked pulling a t-shirt on as he approached her.

"No. Everything's not okay. I can't find anyone connected the Bratva on the flights to the Cayman's, but I did find six guys who owe thousands in child support. One guess what they're doing."

"Any of them from Starling?" Roy asked. "I'm up for threatening deadbeat dads."

Felicity smiled at Roy. "Unfortunately, no." She couldn't send Roy to threaten them, but it didn't mean she couldn't send details to the mothers of their children.

"Why don't we all call it a night?" Oliver squeezed her shoulders. "We'll come back to it tomorrow and figure out a different way to approach the problem."

"I'd like to stop thinking about this, at least for tonight." Felicity said with a smile.

"No complaints here. I'm going home so I can eat some animal protein for dinner at least once this month." Dig winked at Felicity with a wide grin on his face and she couldn't help but laugh.

Roy and Dig moved to go change leaving Felicity and Oliver alone. He gently pulled her to her feet and pulled her into a sweaty embrace. "I'm going to change and then I have a few ideas of how I can make you forget all about bank accounts and flight manifests." He gave her a promise filled kiss and pulled away. As she watched him walk to the back of the lair, she was pretty sure she couldn't remember her own birthday.

Roy was the first to appear dressed in his street clothes. "Night, Felicity."

She spun in her chair to face him. She gestured for him to come to her and spoke in a low voice. "I need to talk to you about something."

Roy shrugged and approached her, pulling Dig's chair over. As he dropped into the chair he asked, "What's going on?"

She reached into her bag and pulled out a large envelope and handed it to him. "Congratulations."

Roy looked at the return address on the envelope and gave her a questioning look. He pulled out the contents of the envelope and began to read. "Felicity, why do I have an acceptance letter and an offer for a full scholarship to SCU? I'm pretty sure I didn't apply."

"I might have done that for you." She said apologetically. "I also wrote you a pretty awesome letter of recommendation."

Roy shook his head. "I never graduated from high school. How did I get into college?"

Felicity couldn't tell if he was angry or amused. "I might've hacked into the Starling City Board of Education and updated your transcripts." She pulled another item out of her bag and handed him his high school diploma. "Don't worry, I didn't make you a nerd. You were a solid C+/B- student."

Roy looked at the diploma. "You made me a fake diploma?"

"No, of course not. I wrote to the Board of Education and told them you lost it during the earthquake. They reissued one for you."

Roy rubbed his eyes. "So, you changed my transcripts to make it look like I graduated from high school so I could go to college." He watched her nod. "I don't want to go to college."

She leaned forward and grabbed his hands. "I know, but hear me out. I have three reasons why I think you should go to college. First, you and I weren't born with silver spoons in our mouths. We've had to fight for everything we have. We might not be living in a mansion with a Queen forever. We have to be able to take care of ourselves."

"Felicity, I've always taken care of myself. I've always made do." Roy's voice was soft but it was laced with anger.

"I know, but you shouldn't have to make do. You're smart and capable, besides you can't be Arsenal and a petty thief." Roy opened his mouth as if to speak, but snapped it shut. Felicity continued. "Second, being a vigilante is a lot like being a professional athlete. You have a short window before you're body starts to give out. Oliver is a knee injury away from total knee replacement and he's only twenty nine. Unlike professional athletes, you aren't paid for your vigilante work. Whatever job you plan on supporting yourself with better not require manual labor. Third, I need you to think about majoring in computer science."

Roy sat up straight with her request. "Computer science?"

"Roy, Oliver has you and Dig to back him up on the street. I don't have a back-up. I love Oliver and Dig, but they are lost when it comes to my system. You have some basic talent and I think it can be nurtured. If something were to happen to me, I don't have a back-up. You guys need someone who can do what I do so you stay safe and out of jail."

Roy leaned forward and took her hands. "Is something wrong? Are you okay?"

She smiled warmly at him. "I'm fine, I promise. It would just make me feel better to know that we have a back-up plan for my role."

Roy sighed. "I don't think I can do this. I was never any good at school."

"I know you can do it, plus you'll have me to help you with your homework." Felicity relaxed when Roy grinned at her. "If you don't like computer science, you can pick whatever major you want. I just need you to promise that you'll work with me on the systems a few hours a week."

"Okay." Roy said.

Felicity clapped her hands. "Yay. Oliver can have your body, but your mind is mine." The smirk on Roy's face had her slapping her own forehead. "You know what I mean."

"Fortunately, I'm fluent in Smoak." He stood up and rolled Dig's chair back. "Thea's waiting."

"Classes start Monday." She called to his retreating back. He raised a hand in silent acknowledgment. Felicity sank back into her chair with a sigh of relief. Having system redundancies in place always made her feel better.

VVVVV

"Felicity, talk me in." Roy was almost inaudible over the roar of his motorcycle.

Felicity watched Roy zoom by the traffic camera she had up on her monitor. They were in pursuit of an eighteen-wheeler containing narcotics bound for Oscar's Vegas territory. Oscar had neglected to inform Oliver, as agreed to in their arrangement, that there was even going to be a shipment. They only knew about the drugs because Roy busted some guy on patrol the night before who thought he'd be able to convince Arsenal to let him go in exchange for the information about the Bratva shipment. Roy and Dig were now scrambling because the narcotics had departed an hour earlier than expected. "Arsenal, turn east on 16th. You should be able to intercept before they reach Kent."

"How's everything going?" Felicity's eyes darted to her other monitor displaying a security feed. She smiled as she watched a very bored Oliver survey the hotel ballroom he was going to be spending the evening in. He was making a public appearance at a fundraiser for a mayoral candidate who was running for the special election in the spring. They decided it would be for the best if Oliver was seen in public while the Arrow took down another Bratva shipment.

By his body language, she could tell that he was contemplating sneaking out. "Oliver, you're supposed to be mingling and getting photographed," she chided him. Her attention returned to her other monitor and she muted her connection with Oliver. "Damn it. Dig, change of plans. Head to the River Street bridge, I'm going to divert them."

"Copy that." Dig replied evenly.

"What's going on Blondie?"

"Accident at Kent and 5th. Target is now heading west. I need you to head north on Market." Felicity opened her connection with Starling's public transportation network and lowered the train crossing the truck was fast approaching. She grinned as she watched the truck diverted to the north on Market. Her attention shifted to the River Street Bridge that led out of Starling. Once the truck left the city, her guys wouldn't be able to pursue. The arrangement they shared with the SCPD didn't extend outside the city limits. If they wanted to stop the shipment, they needed to do it before the truck crossed the bridge. She eyed her team's progress by their trackers and was worried that the truck had too much of a head start on the guys. She used her hack of the city's traffic network to change the upcoming stop light to red in attempt to give Roy and Dig a chance to catch up. She watched in disbelief as the truck plowed through the intersection, causing three cars to collide. "Damn it," she said again as she picked up her burner to call in the accident. If these guys weren't going to obey traffic signals, she was going to make sure all the lights stayed green.

Felicity weighed their options as she watched her team's progress. She switched her camera view to the River Street bridge. Traffic was light and flowing easily. She wanted to clear a straight path for the truck in order to minimize collateral damage when the guys finally caught up. The River Street bridge was down by the marina and provided stunning views of the city and the bay. The bridge sat low to the water and gave the illusion that you were driving across the waves. A crazy idea struck her, but she wasn't sure if she had enough time to execute. The bridge's low profile across the mouth of the bay necessitated it to be a drawbridge, a feature that was about to become decidedly handy.

Felicity began to type furiously as she turned all the traffic signals approaching the bridge red. She changed the traffic alert signs to display, _River Street Bridge Closed. Detour to 52nd Street Bridge_. She then began the process of raising the bridge. She held her breath as she willed the last of the cars across the bridge. As the last car cleared the center, the bridge began to slowly rise. Satisfied that her detour was working, she shut off the traffic alerts and turned all lights in the truck's path green. They would have the truck trapped in Starling at the base of the bridge. Oscar was going to be denied another delivery of drugs. "Change in plans. The River Street bridge is up, we just need to cut off their escape."

Dig chuckled. "I take it you're responsible for that."

"I see them." Roy accelerated his bike.

"Me too." Dig's tracker indicated his van was about to intercept the truck on the bridge's entrance ramp.

Before she could respond, Felicity watched as the truck appeared to accelerate. She rose out of her chair as she realized the driver was going to attempt to jump the bridge. The driver was clearly an idiot who didn't understand the laws of physics if he actually thought he was going to be able to clear the ever widening gap. "Stop," she shouted. "Stay clear of the bridge." She knew without checking that Roy and Dig would stop as soon as she told them to. They trusted her to be their eyes and never questioned the instructions she provided over the comms. She watched in disbelief as just the cab of the truck dropped over the top of the bridge. Felicity dropped in her chair and attempted to stop the bridge's ascent. Before she could finish typing the command, gravity and the height of the bridge took everything out of her hands. The cab of the truck rose high enough to once again be aligned with the trailer. It was no longer stuck on the lip of the bridge and the truck flipped backwards and began to roll end over end down the slope of the bridge. "Dig," she said in a whisper.

"We're on it. Call it in." Dig said. When she didn't respond, he tried again. "Felicity, you need to call it in."

"Copy." As if in a trance she called 911 and informed them of the accident and the presence of the Arrow and Arsenal on site. She watched Dig, dressed in his own Arrow suit, and Arsenal slowly circle the wreckage of the truck. As gasoline began to leak from the truck and onto the surrounding roadway she felt herself flood with fear. "Are they dead?" She asked softly.

"The cab is too heavily damaged to get them out. The fire department will need to cut them out." Roy answered vaguely.

"Are they dead?" She asked forcefully as she tried to keep her mounting hysteria from her voice.

"I don't know, but it looks pretty bad." Dig answered gently.

Felicity turned to the monitor displaying Oliver having a conversation with a small group of older men, probably friends of his father, as he pretended to sip his champagne. She was overwhelmed with the desire to be held in his arms and almost unmuted their connection to tell him to come home. Her hand hesitated over the switch as she realized she'd never be able to keep the fear out of her voice. Oliver had his role to play tonight and so did the rest of the team. "Police and fire are one minute out. There's nothing more you can do. Come home."

"Felic..." Dig started to say, but she tore the comm from her ear and made her way to the bathroom in a daze. She splashed cold water onto her face as she contemplated how her actions might be responsible for the deaths of the Bratva men, not to mention the people in the three cars in the accident at the intersection the truck blew through. Her choices might've resulted in severe injury and loss of life. Whatever happened, was on her. The weight of that realization had her sinking to the bathroom floor. Tonight, she might have become a killer.

Not wanting the guys to find her falling apart, she straightened out her skirt and smoothed out her ponytail and returned to her desk. She breathed a sigh of relief as she skimmed the police report for the three car collision when it revealed no one had been injured. Reluctantly, she returned to looking at the camera feed from the bridge. The truck was surrounded by first responders . A group of firefighters were attempting to open the cab with the jaws of life. Another group of firefighters were spraying a foam onto the leaking gasoline. Four paramedics stood to the side as they waited for the two men trapped in the cab to be accessible. The police were concentrated at the rear of the truck. Two officers used bolt cutters to open the trailer's doors. Felicity leaned forward in her seat as pandemonium erupted on her screen. Even though there wasn't any audio, she could tell the police were shouting. The four paramedics ran to the back of the truck. The emergency services scanner at the end of her desk crackled to life. An officer was asking for additional ambulances. Felicity's fist flew to her mouth to stifle a scream when she saw one of the paramedics emerge from the truck with the limp body of a woman in his arms.

The trailer hadn't been full of drugs as they'd thought. The reason Oscar hadn't told Oliver about this shipment wasn't to cut him out of his fee, but because he was trafficking in humans, people who had just been flung about the inside of a container as the truck rolled.

When Dig and Roy returned to the lair twenty minutes later, they found Felicity watching the police, firefighters and paramedics lining up bodies on the street outside of the truck. So far, twenty-three women had been removed and covered with a sheet on the street. Five women had been taken away by ambulance as were the two men in the cab of the truck. "It wasn't drugs." Felicity said, as if they couldn't see what was being removed from the back of the trailer.

Dig stepped away and out of the corner of her eye, she watched as Oliver answered his cell. His body tensed and his eyes sought out a security camera, looking at her. Roy reached across her and turned off the monitor displaying the bodies. He held out his hand to her. "Let's go get some air."

She shook her head. "I'm fine."

"Felicity." Dig approached her like she was a wounded animal. "It's not your fault."

She gave him a smile that was probably more like a wince. "I know. It's like you and Oliver always say. Sometimes you can do everything right and it still goes wrong."

"We didn't know there were people in the back of that truck. You made the best choices you could with the information you had." Dig placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Right." She rested her cheek against his hand for a moment. "I'm alright, I promise," she lied. "I'm going to head home. Would you call Oliver for me and tell him?" She knew that the moment she heard his voice or saw him she wouldn't be able to keep it together.

"I'll drive you home." Dig said holding up her red coat.

Felicity slipped her arms into her coat."That's okay. I can drive myself."

"I wasn't asking."

Forty five minutes later she was standing under her shower in the mansion. The water was set to as hot as she could tolerate and she stood with her chin tilted into the steady stream. She didn't move when she heard the shower door open nor when Oliver stepped behind her and wrapped his arms around her middle. It wasn't until he tightened his embrace and pulled her back flush against his chest that the dam she'd built up from the moment the first girl was removed from the truck burst. Her body began to shake as she was racked by silent sobs. Oliver spun her so she was facing him. With one arm he held her to his chest and he shut off the water with the other. She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his chest as all the grief and guilt poured out of her. "I killed them," she wailed.

Oliver scooped her up in his arms and carried her into the bedroom. He lowered the blankets on their bed and gently sat her down as he draped a fluffy towel across her shoulders. He knelt in front of her as he dried her off and she continued to sob. He cupped her face between his hands and pulled her forward until her forehead rested against his. "Felicity, you didn't kill those women."

"I raised the bridge."

"Why?"

She hadn't expected a question and it silenced her tears. "Why what?"

"Why did you raise the bridge?" He tilted her chin to look in her eyes.

"To, to stop the truck."

"You thought they'd do the normal thing and stop. You had no way of knowing the driver would do anything so reckless as to try to jump a drawbridge in a tractor trailer. The driver is the one responsible for their deaths, not you."

Felicity leaned forward and rested her head in the crook of his neck. He didn't understand. If she hadn't been trying to be clever or unwilling to allow the truck to get away, those women would be alive. She knew that Oscar had untold horrors planned for them, but as long as they lived there would've been hope. Now they were dead and would never be able to hope for anything again. He was right, she couldn't have predicted the driver's irrational choice, but she had driven him to desperation. "I know that in the eyes of the law I'm as responsible as you are for the deaths of those men you killed when you first started." She felt him tense beneath her fingers, but he remained silent. "I know that I was the one that gave you the information that led you to your targets, but I was always able to tell myself that I hadn't killed anyone. But tonight, those women are all dead because of the choices I made. It doesn't matter that it wasn't my intent, they're as dead as if I shot an arrow through their hearts. I'm a killer." The pained look on his face had her regretting everything she just said. She was a hypocrite and it was unfair to place the entire burden of the Hood's body count on Oliver's shoulders. They liked to joke that Oliver was the muscle and Felicity was the brain of their operation, but that meant she was just as culpable for the deaths of the men he murdered after she joined his team. She'd been lying to herself for all of these years. She'd been a killer long before tonight, but the dead women only just made her realize it.

"No." Oliver said with tears running down his face. "You aren't." He stood and shifted her so he could crawl into the bed beside her. He pulled her against his body and rubbed her back. "Felicity, intent does matter. It was an accident." He placed a kiss to the top of her head. "Sleep."

She pressed her ear against his chest and listened to his heart. She tried matching her breathing to his and to focus on how soothing his hands were on her back. She wanted to believe him that what had happened wasn't her fault, but every time her eyes closed the image of the twenty-three bodies draped in sheets reminded her that they were dead because of her.

**Notes: Thank you for reading! Your feedback is always welcome.**

**Up Next: Oscar makes his presence in Starling known.**


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